GRAHAM POTTER will not be sacked by Chelsea just yet and looks set to lead the Blues against Liverpool on Tuesday.
That is despite growing calls for the manager to get his marching orders.
Potter saw his side slump to a tenth Premier League defeat of the season as they went down 2-0 at home to Aston Villa on Saturday evening.
That took Chelsea’s dire record in the league to just three wins in their last 13 since the turn of the year.
And unsurprisingly, a rising number of Blues supporters want to see the under-fire ex-Brighton chief relieved of his duties – especially with Julian Nagelsmann now available.
A petition for his dismissal launched back in February has thousands of signatures.
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But Chelsea wasted no time in reassuring Potter there are no immediate plans to axe him.
A media email circulated at 8.32am on Sunday – just 13 hours after full-time in the Villa loss – confirmed Potter will take the pre-match Liverpool press conference at the Cobham training ground on Monday lunchtime.
Todd Boehly and his Chelsea board have demonstrated incredible patience and appear content to stick with Potter.
The Stamford Bridge hierarchy recognise the gaffer joined the club during the season and, with lots of new players, it will take time for him to get the best out of the squad.
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Boehly and the directors also appreciate the Potter project is a long-term vision and therefore are committed to giving him that time to craft and shape the team as he wants.
That is what he did so successfully at Brighton while Mikel Arteta has reaped the rewards of being trusted through a difficult patch at Arsenal.
Speaking after the latest poor result, Potter said: “After a defeat there is always a disappointment and a feeling we have not moved forward.
“Defensively we’ve left ourselves too open but again if you look at the stats of the game we had chances ourselves but the most important thing, putting the ball into the net, we were second-best.
“I don’t like to blame anybody, I have to take responsibility. We are a team, we have to stay together, we are together. We win or lose together.
“We will recover and we will prepare for the next game. We need to respond, that’s clear. But we look forward to it.”
That next game sees fellow strugglers Liverpool travel to Stamford Bridge for an 8pm kick-off on Tuesday.
Jurgen Klopp’s side are reeling from their 4-1 dismantling by Manchester City which could prove a hammer blow to their top-four qualification hopes.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
