Chelsea were played off park by Arsenal and Potter’s biggest issue is that nobody in Stamford Bridge was even surprised
THE honeymoon didn’t last too long for Graham Potter.
Now it’s the reality of a relationship that does not seem to be going anywhere.
And the biggest concern for Potter is that nobody inside Stamford Bridge seemed even slightly surprised.
Being played off the park at home by one of your two fiercest rivals would normally bring anger echoing from the stands.
Instead, Michael Oliver’s final whistle at Stamford Bridge provoked a mixture of frustration and resignation from fans who are rapidly losing faith in the club’s post-Roman Abramovich reboot.
As Arsenal celebrated in front of the travelling supporters, Chelsea retreated, shame-faced, to the dressing room, the passage met with derision and acceptance.
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It was symbolic of a performance that ticked absolutely none of the boxes that should be the norm.
To be fair to Potter, he was without a full back division, with Reece James and Ben Chilwell joined on the sidelines by Wesley Fofana, Kalidou Koulibaly and Kepa Arrizabalaga, a situation he described as a “perfect storm”.
He has inherited, too, a squad which seems unbalanced, while his attempts to change the approach - shades of “Tinkerman” Claudio Ranieri - appear to be adding to the uncertainty.
But that did not explain the listlessness of the midfield, the inertia of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Kai Havertz’ inability to stay on his feet or another underwhelming 90 minutes from Raheem Sterling.
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Aaron Ramsdale’s only save came from a tame poke by Havertz in the first half, with the manager conceding: “We huffed and puffed but we are not in a fantastic moment.
“We had an idea of what we wanted to do but we couldn’t execute, and the opponent was good.”
Far too good for Potter’s side, who could easily have suffered a defeat on the scale of last week’s humbling by his former team Brighton.
Chelsea are now, a third of the way through the season, 13 points adrift of Arsenal and closer to the bottom of the table than the top.
Neither the £260m spent in the summer nor jettisoning Thomas Tuchel to bring in Potter have addressed the decline that has been evident pretty much all year.
Where Arsenal were a team with poise and purpose, Chelsea were blunt and uncomfortable.
The manager added: “I’ve been here eight weeks and a lot has happened. We’ve had a lot to deal with.
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“If you look at the Arsenal story compared to where they were two years ago or one year ago, it’s slightly different.
“I’m sure at times Mikel was getting pelters. That’s how it is. That’s the job, that’s the life and we have to deal with that.”