Graham Potter has pledged to examine the reasons behind Chelsea’s rotten injury record, refusing to blame the ongoing issues purely on bad luck.
The new manager faces a renewed challenge to his side’s recent good form after seeing N’Golo Kante’s latest hamstring setback compounded by a potentially serious knee injury for Reece James that could require surgery and rule him out of the World Cup with England.
A recent report by Howden’s ‘European Football Injury Index’ showed Chelsea had the worst injury record of any Premier League club and it is a statistic that Potter takes seriously.
“I don't think you should blame everything on luck, that's for sure,” he said ahead of the trip to Aston Villa on Sunday. “I think we can have a look and see what we can do better.
“Obviously, I've been here a few weeks so I haven't got the answers completely. But clearly, we want to always try to improve and that's an area that we can probably improve.”
The Blues have become accustomed to being without Kante but James’s absence could be harder felt with an appointment with a specialist due this weekend.
“The performances on the pitch are a realisation of how high his ceiling can be,” Potter added of the versatile Three Lions defender. “I think, yes, he is that type of player with the world-class attributes.
“The way he defends with [Wilfried] Zaha and the way he defended with [Rafael] Leao in both games against Milan is a high, high level and he contributes in the attacking phase as well. He is a top, top player.”
