GRAHAM POTTER faces “two make-or-break” games to save his job as Chelsea boss, according to reports.
The Blues manager’s struggles continued with Sunday’s 2-0 defeat at Tottenham.
Chelsea have now lost their last three games without scoring and are winless in six – with just one goal.
And according to The Telegraph, the matches against Leeds and Borussia Dortmund are key to keeping Potter in charge.
Goals from Ollie Skipp and Harry Kane in the second half saw the Blues fall to that 2-0 defeat at White Hart Lane yesterday.
That came after last week’s shocking 1-0 home loss to relegation-threatened Southampton.
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Their Champions League hopes are also on thin ice after a 1-0 defeat at Borussia Dortmund.
They take on the German giants again next Tuesday, knowing an early exit from Europe would effectively end their season.
The first-leg defeat was preceded by draws with West Ham, Fulham and Liverpool.
Chelsea’s last win came in 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace on January 15.
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That remains their only win from 11 matches in 2023, including an FA Cup hammering at Manchester City.
Chelsea owners have supported Potter and recognise it will take time for the £600million worth of new signings to gel.
They also know the new manager’s appointment is a long-term project, just as he demonstrated at Brighton.
Potter signed a £10m-per-season, five-year contract at Stamford Bridge in September.
But The Telegraph report suggests patience is finally beginning to wear thin with the owners, senior players and fans.
New signings are even said to be stunned by the pressure they are under and others are furious at being left out of matchday squads due to the number of players at the club.
Mateo Kovacic missed the Spurs defeat through illness while Potter admitted Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Cucurella, Carney Chukwuemeka and David Datro Fofana were “unfortunate” to be left out of the squad.
The problems of an overloaded squad will only worsen when N’Golo Kante, Christian Pulisic and Edouard Mendy return from injury.
Potter is said to be concerned about the size of the squad and has altered his regular training methods to accommodate the high numbers.
Speaking about the increased pressure after the Tottenham defeat, Potter added: “If results aren’t good enough, which they aren’t at the moment, you can’t rely on support forever that is for sure.
“I take full responsibility for those results and it isn’t good enough for Chelsea. We want to improve it, absolutely.
“My job is to keep going, to keep working with the team to try and change the moment. The players are hurting. It’s a tough moment for us.
“We were talking before the game about watching ‘All or Nothing’ and Arsenal two years into Mikel’s [Arteta] reign, he is close to getting the sack, people are wanting him out and it is a disaster.
“Obviously now things have changed a little bit, but that is just the way it is. You look at Jurgen’s [Klopp] situation. He hasn’t got the results and all of a sudden people want him out. That is just the nature of football.”
Boehly is set to be joined by co-controlling owner Behdad Eghbali for the upcoming clashes with Leeds and Dortmund.
And even though a further two matches without victory may not spell an immediate sacking next week, it is thought there would ultimately be no way back.
A petition for Potter’s sacking has hit more than 30,000 signatures with the club languishing down in tenth in the Premier League table, 14 points adrift of the top four.
Incredibly, Chelsea are now closer to bottom-side Southampton with their tally of 18 points just 13 fewer than the West Londoners’ 31.
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However, as Mikel Arteta has shown at Arsenal, it is not impossible to turn this dire situation around.
The Spaniard battled through a torrid patch at the beginning of last season and now his side sit top of the Premier League with a game in hand.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
