Chelsea sit 10th in the Premier League table having won just twice in their last 15 matches. It was yet another toothless display from the Blues as they lost 2-0 at London rivals Tottenham to leave them closer to the relegation zone than they are the top four.
Graham Potter is facing increasing pressure from the Chelsea fans who are losing patience with the former Brighton boss. Potter replaced Thomas Tuchel at Stamford Bridge just six months ago, but there are now calls for him to be sacked before the end of the season.
The west Londoners are one of the lowest scoring teams in the Premier League this season with 23 goals scored in 24 league matches, highlighting a key issue Potter must correct if Chelsea are to start getting results. The 47-year-old's misery continued as Thiago Silva had to be substituted after suffering a knee injury, with the Brazilian proving to be a key player in defence this season once again.
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Here's how the national media reacted to the Blues' latest poor performance and result.
Chelsea themselves look in need of surgery, with Potter now on a bleak run of three successive losses. The under-fire boss has seen his men score just one goal in their last six games and win just one of their 11 matches in 2023. The Blues could still count themselves fortunate to have 11 players on the pitch, though, as Hakim Ziyech saw his first-half red card for a shove on Emerson Royal overturned after a puzzling call from referee Stuart Attwell.
The Blues' Mr Reliable since he signed from Paris Saint-Germain in the summer of 2020, the battle-hardened Thiago Silva rarely wilts when faced with injury. This time out, however, a knock to the knee in attempting to stop Harry Kane charging at goal saw him substituted after just 19 minutes, as the 38-year-old defender couldn't play through the pain in a blow to Graham Potter.
Fortunately for £75million summer signing Wesley Fofona, he was able to replace him from the bench, having played a mere 45 minutes of first-team football since October 5. The French centre-back, still only 22, has been plagued by injuries both this season and his last at Leicester City, and Silva's injury could present him with an opportunity to nail down a place in Potter's rather ramshackle defence.
Nothing captured the confusion at Chelsea better than the sight of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang waiting to enter the fray just before Harry Kane sealed the points for Tottenham. There was no point trying to work out the logic at that stage. Chelsea had delivered another muddled display and, although Graham Potter needed someone in blue to do the unthinkable and score a goal, it was hard to see why this was the moment to turn to a player who had not been deemed worthy of a place on the bench for more than a month.
It hardly suggested that Chelsea, who lie closer to the bottom three than the top four after another demoralising defeat, have a plan. Why bring back Aubameyang now? The striker has been shoved to the margins, omitted from Chelsea’s squad for the Champions League, deemed less effective than David Datro Fofana. But here, with Potter desperate for a response after losing at home to Southampton, there was nothing but more misery, waste and Aubameyang given seven minutes to try to stop Spurs from beating Chelsea in the league for the first time since November 2018.
Spurs, who once again had Cristian Stellini deputising for Antonio Conte on the touchline, did not have to be special to tighten their hold on fourth place. They played the game on their terms, sitting deep, waiting for opportunities, and were in control after the excellent Oliver Skipp gave them the lead with a magnificent goal in the 46th minute. “We huffed and puffed,” Potter said. “Scoring goals is the difficult part of the game.”
Chelsea, who have won twice in 15 matches, are making it look impossible. They have scored 23 goals in 24 league games and rarely looked like improving on that record.
Of all the ways Chelsea have contrived to avoid victory during an awful sequence of results since the World Cup, this will have been the hardest to swallow.
At Tottenham. On enemy turf with the home crowd guffawing at their misfortune. Against a team who have spluttered this far into the season and yet purred with fluency once in front, consolidating their position in fourth on a day with two rivals distracted by a Wembley final.
For all their talent and flair, Chelsea looked soft all over. Easy to keep out. Easy to dispossess. Easy to penetrate. This must be of great concern for Graham Potter. His expensive collection of players still far from looking anything like a team.
Chelsea languish 14 points behind them. Closer in the terms of points to the bottom three than the top four. They have won only twice in a dozen games since the restart at Christmas. They have scored only six.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang made his first appearance in more than month from the bench, but by then his team were two down with no hint of finding a way back into the contest and many of those in the away end were making for the exits.
That was that. A day to treasure for Spurs and assistant boss Cristian Stellini, who has a record of seven wins from seven games in Conte’s absence, three while at Inter Milan and now four here. Another day to forget for Chelsea and more misery for Potter.
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