Every unbeaten run must come to an end at some point.
Saturday afternoon's 4-1 defeat to Brighton felt like everything that could have gone wrong for Graham Potter did. Chelsea went 3-0 down in the first-half after Leandro Trossard's opener was followed by two own goals from Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Trevoh Chalobah, respectively.
Kai Havertz offered the visitors a glimmer of hope down at the Amex Stadium but his goal was merely a consolation when Pascal Gross restored the Seagulls' three-goal advantage late on. It was a nightmare return to the south coast for Potter, who now has plenty to work on before his side take on Dinamo Zagreb on Wednesday night.
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Fortunately for Chelsea, their work is already done in the Champions League. Results in the last round of fixtures ensured the Blues qualified as Group E winners – meaning Wednesday's visit of the Croatians is essentially a free hit.
The positive for Potter is that he has the chance to rest some of his more senior and trusted players and those on the fringes could also be handed an opportunity. With all of this being said, football.london takes a look at the changes Potter needs to make ahead of Wednesday's match.
Midfield issues
Potter went with a midfield two of Mateo Kovacic and Loftus-Cheek on Saturday, with Conor Gallagher playing alongside Mason Mount in a more advanced position. For whatever reason, Chelsea were left open on far too many occasions and Brighton were able to bypass the midfield without too much hassle.
"They have a couple of own goals, we have a couple of chances," Potter explained after the game. "In the end, it felt probably a little bit too open for us, and that is my responsibility."
Neither Kovacic or Loftus-Cheek are defensive-minded enough and that can, at times, be exposed. Both like to get forward and try to dictate the game. When that doesn't happen to its desired impact, it can leave the side open. Dinamo Zagreb of course pose a different challenge to Brighton, but it wouldn't come as too much of a shock if Potter went back to a 3-5-2 to try and get an extra body in the centre of midfield.
Sterling role change
Raheem Sterling was used as a left wing-back again on Saturday – and that needs to change. He's done a fine job there but his talents are wasted and he is now coming in for a lot of unfair criticism because of it.
Chelsea signed the Manchester City attacker, who is of course part of the Premier League 100 Club, in the summer transfer window. He is someone who in recent seasons with Manchester City has shown his ability to find the right spaces inside the box to score goals but at wing-back, he is often being pinned back and unable to express himself too much in an attacking sense.
Time for the fringe players
As mentioned above, Wednesday represents the perfect opportunity for some of the 'fringe' players to be handed a rare start. See the likes of Armando Broja and Hakim Ziyech, for example.
Broja has impressed in recent matches after coming off the bench but the 21-year-old striker only has one start to his name this season. Potter could turn to the Albania international on Wednesday, or he could bring Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang back into the team.
Ziyech is another one who could be handed a rare start. Time is running out for the Moroccan to save his career at Stamford Bridge. As it stands right now, Ziyech could well leave the club when the January transfer window opens.
Denis Zakaria, somehow, has still not played a single minute for Chelsea since joining from Juventus on a season-long loan deal on deadline day. The Swiss international surely has to play some part on Wednesday. Surely.
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