Chelsea boss Graham Potter paid respect to former Blues manager and current Tottenham head coach Antonio Conte ahead of a meeting between the two sides on Sunday, drawing on advice he received from the Italian in the past. The London derby comes at a difficult time for the man in the hot-seat at Stamford Bridge, who is currently under pressure from every angle.
The west London outfit sit 10th in the division, ambling towards a mid-table finish this season and if they have any hopes of making a charge towards Europe, it must start with a victory against Spurs. The north London side haven't always been the most convincing this campaign, though they currently have the initiative in the race for a top-four finish.
While in the reverse fixture there was tensions flying between Thomas Tuchel and Conte, neither will be in the dugout in N17 this time around. The former has since been replaced by Potter, while the latter is recovering from emergency surgery he underwent while in Italy.
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"We don't know yet," Spurs assistant manager Cristian Stellini told the media on when the head coach may return to action. "But my feeling is that he's very close to coming back."
While they won't face off in the dugout this time around, Potter has revealed some conversations he's had in the past with Conte, as well as some advice that still rings true to him as he comes under pressure. The Chelsea boss said: "I spoke to him [Conte] when I was at Brighton and we have had conversations.
"We have kept contact from a distance and he’s someone I’ve admired a lot as a coach, I like how his teams are organised, and then when you meet him he’s a gentleman, he has the passion but he has always been good to me.
"The best piece of advice he has given me was about doing your best today and not necessarily thinking too much about the future or the past. It was something that was on his WhatsApp message. I think he sent me that message after they’d beaten us — he didn’t send any when we’d won."
That may be the mindset for the coach heading into the clash, given the difficulty with past results and uncertainty surrounding his future, with results week-by-week being the only way to show progress and turn things around. While Potter cuts a very different presence on the touchline, that's not to say he doesn't admire the passion of his opposite number coming into the game.
When asked if Conte's touchline energy has helped the Italian, he added: "Absolutely, yes, because he is himself and I don’t look at how he is and look down on him in anyway. Anyone who is a different person to me, I don’t think, ‘Oh, I’m better than them’, because that totally isn’t true. The best person to be Antonio Conte is Antonio Conte. The best person to be Graham Potter is Graham Potter. That’s how I see it."
The final line may be a particularly pointed nudge towards some sections of the Chelsea fanbase that haven't been in favour of how Potter reacts on the touchline, or perhaps the lack of reaction, compared to previous managers such as Tuchel and Conte, that would be bouncing around the technical area. He continued: "Everyone is different and you can’t help who you are.
"That’s just life. Of course, you can play a role and you can do stuff but you have to be yourself. But it isn’t nice then when people start to criticise you for being you because I can’t help being me. And [being me] has certainly gone well."
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