GRAHAM POTTER has turned Chelsea into Brighton – with virtually identical records.
Potter took over from Thomas Tuchel at Stamford Bridge in September.
But the Blues boss, 47, is struggling to get a song out of his mega-money squad, including £600million of new signings from this season alone.
Now the stats show he is almost exactly replicating his campaign at Brighton from last season.
Chelsea currently sit tenth in the Premier League after 23 matches this season.
They have won eight, drawn seven and lost eight, scoring 23 and conceding 23.
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That gives them a measly total of 31 points with 15 games to go, four points and three places off Brighton who also have a game in hand.
By comparison, after 23 games of Brighton’s 2021-22 season, the Seagulls had seven wins, 12 draws and four defeats.
They had found the net 25 times but shipped 23 goals to give them 33 points – enough to sit ninth.
Tuchel oversaw the first six games of Chelsea’s 2022-23 season – with three wins, a draw and two defeats giving the Blues ten points and sitting sixth.
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Ironically, that was three points behind Brighton – with Potter guiding the south-coast club to four wins, a draw and a loss at the beginning of the campaign.
Chelsea fans will barely be boosted by the fact that Brighton went on to finish last season in ninth on 51 points, five adrift of West Ham in the Europa Conference League spot.
But supporters at the Amex will point to the long-term progress and project Potter built.
The former Ostersund boss took over from Chris Hughton in the summer of 2019 with the Seagulls narrowly avoiding relegation by just two points.
In his three full seasons, Potter took Brighton to 15th (41 points), 16th (41 points) and then ninth (51 points).
The Blues board, led by Todd Boehly, are determined to stick with the man they brought in to succeed Tuchel.
They understand he needs time – as demonstrated with Brighton – and are willing to give him that despite his record-breaking start to life in the dugout in West London, especially after the wave of new recruits that have only recently joined the club.
However, recent defeats to Southampton, Borussia Dortmund and Fulham, on top of stalemates with the Cottagers and West Ham, have only worsened the mood among supporters quickly losing patience.
Chelsea face a crunch few weeks with mammoth clashes with Tottenham and Borussia Dortmund alongside games with strugglers Leeds, Leicester and Everton.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
