If Graham Potter steers Chelsea back into the top four, it will be some feat given the carnage inflicted on his squad by injuries.
After five games without a win before the World Cup, culminating in defeat at Newcastle, Chelsea bounced back with a festive three points at Bournemouth last week. But it came at a cost, with Reece James suffering a recurrence of the knee injury which had ruled him out of Qatar.
And although the England right-back joins a crowded treatment room, Potter knows the wealthy west Londoners will get zero sympathy. The former Brighton boss, who takes his side to Nottingham Forest on Sunday, said: “If you go back to the Newcastle game, we had no Kepa [Arrizabalaga], no Reece, no Wesley [Fofana] and no Ben Chilwell.
“We lost Marc Cucurella with illness overnight, lost Ruben Loftus-Cheek after two minutes, had no [N’Golo] Kante, lost Cesar Azpilicueta after 20 minutes and also had no Raheem Sterling.
“That was simply the period we were in, and we still have quite a few guys that are out. But that is the challenge of being in multiple competitions, multiple games in a short space of time with the World Cup coming up. Again, I’m not making excuses. I’m just telling you what I think of the situation. We have to deal with it.
“The break hasn’t been a positive one for us and I could’ve made lots of excuses had the result [against Bournemouth] not gone our way, because we had four [senior] players for the first two weeks.
“Then you had players dripping back in and so the break that people think we have to work with the players isn’t there. But you can’t make those excuses, you just have to win. And we did [against Bournemouth], so that’s good.”
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Kai Havertz and Mason Mount, the only Chelsea player to feature in all 15 of Potter’s matches in charge, sealed the victory at home to Bournemouth. Both men are fit but Potter is taking nothing for granted against Forest, winners of three of their last four games in all competitions.
“You always have to be wary in the Premier League,” he added. “You can’t say it’s the greatest league in the world and then think there are easy games. There aren’t. Forest got a fantastic result against Liverpool before the break and I have huge respect for Steve Cooper and the job he has done there.
“He is a fantastic coach. So they’ll be ready and the atmosphere will be hostile, I’m sure. It’s their first year back in the Premier League for a long, long time and every game – especially Chelsea coming to town – is a big game for them. So they’ll be motivated, have quality and be fighting for the points. So we have to be ready.”
