Graham Potter is on the brink at Chelsea all right.
But, on this evidence at least, it’s on the brink of having a very good side.
Yes, this was ‘only’ Leeds and they have been having as dismal a season as Chelsea in their own way. And no one is forgetting any of the dreadful results that have littered the Blues’ recent history.
But while this wasn’t a perfect performance - at times it was downright nervy for everyone associated with Chelsea - there were too many green shoots about it for anyone to ignore. So many, in fact, that only the most anti-Potter of home fans will have left Stamford Bridge feeling that all hope is lost until there’s a change in the managerial hot seat.
And if the beleaguered boss and his men can find a way - any way - to get a result against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League on Tuesday then maybe, just maybe, Potter will finally have a platform on which to build his reign.
Joao Felix, who was a pleasure to watch again in the first half, had revealed ‘something different’ was coming pre-match and that transpired to be a switch to three at the back, which felt significant. Chelsea fans will remember Antonio Conte doing the same after back-to-back defeats by Liverpool and Arsenal in 2016-17, a decision which sparked their run to the title.
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That’s not going to happen this season, of course, and even a run into the Europa League places will feel like a success. But this result and display will at least have left supporters thinking the season might not be a write-off just yet.
Certainly, the players are still playing for Potter. That was clear throughout but especially when Wesley Fofana headed home the only goal of the game early in the second half.
As he wheeled away towards the corner flag with several team-mates in pursuit, the big defender looked Potter’s way and pumped a fist - an action Potter reciprocated and one that suggested it was an instruction that had massively come off.
If Potter is going to stick with a three, then Ben Chilwell and Reece James, both out injured for large parts of his reign, will be key to the formation. James missed out again through injury but Chilwell looked well at home in the system and, on paper at least, the starting XI bore the hallmarks of one which, with two tweaks and one major signing, could easily challenge for honours again next season.
Those tweaks would see James, who could well return on Tuesday, in at right wing-back and Thiago Silva would start ahead of Kalidou Koulibaly in the middle of the back three. To be fair to Koulibaly, he had a good game against Leeds but if the old master is fit, he plays.
It’s only really the central striker’s role that Chelsea and Potter must address this summer given Kai Havertz just isn’t cutting it. But if the Blues can get that right then they really are that close to having a properly good side again.
Let’s not forget that Potter still has N’Golo Kante to come back from injury, too, to share the load with and complement Mateo Kovacic and Enzo Fernandez. Both of them deserved to be on the winning side on Saturday.
And with a full quota of players to choose from, Potter might then find the gale that has been blowing hard into his face for a few months now soon changes into a fair wind.
He will need more performances like this one to breed confidence and he will need the kind of good fortune he enjoyed at times here. But the better and more confident they get, the ore fortune Potter and his men will enjoy. Time will tell on that front, but only the hardest of souls would begrudge him that after everything he has been through.
