Chelsea plumb new depths with Fulham loss as pressure mounts on Graham Potter
The hardest job in football is rapidly becoming a poisoned chalice for Graham Potter.
The Chelsea boss must think he is cursed because every time you think the crisis cannot get any worse, they plumb to new depths of despair. Debuts do not get any more surreal and crazy than Joao Felix getting himself sent off for a mad, reckless challenge to gift Fulham only their second win over their more illustrious West London neighbours in 43 years.
Felix had only got his work permit a few hours earlier, he had been Chelsea’s best player, a ray of hope in a disastrous season and yet then saw red in a moment of madness in the 58th minute which ultimately cost his team.
Chelsea have now managed just one win in their last nine Premier League games and the sad truth is that Potter looks horribly lost and out of ideas to turn things around. Potter claimed expectation levels, a crippling injury list - they are now up to 11 first teamers missing - and a change of ownership at Stamford Bridge has made it the toughest task around.
But not many managers have owners willing to spend £200million on defenders this season and the harsh reality is they have forgotten how to defend as they have now kept just one clean sheet in 13 games.
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Chelsea are stuck in mid-table, going nowhere fast while Fulham have leapfrogged above Liverpool into sixth place and chasing a European place.
Graham Potter has won just one of his last nine Premier League games with Chelsea (Clive Rose/Getty Images)Every time you offer a hard luck story, there is always someone with a counter argument and Potter is rapidly running out of excuses especially when you look at the miracles Marco Silva is working on a fraction of the budget at Fulham.
Even with injuries, you still expect organisation, basic defending and players not to lose their heads in the way Felix went studs up on Fulham’s Kenny Tete. Felix’s six-month loan deal is costing a staggering £15m - £9.7m in a loan fee to Atletico Madrid and £5.3m in wages - and now they will be paying a large chunk of that for the Portugal starlet to sit out a three match ban.
The Fulham fans were chanting “You’re Getting Sacked In The Morning” at Potter and it will really be a test of nerve now for Chelsea because their own supporters have long since lost heart. Chelsea started well enough with Felix lively but Fulham soon took charge and Bobby Decordova-Reid crashed a shot against the bar even before Willian’s 25th-minute opener.
Joao Felix was sent off for a high foot on Kenny Tete (Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)Willian’s shot then took a deflection off Trevoh Chalobah - who had a wretched night - and the ball flew into the far corner. Willian did not celebrate out of respect for his former club Chelsea but they can probably do without small mercies right now.
Two minutes after the restart, Mason Mount ’s free kick hit the post then Leno, it came back for Kalidou Koulibaly who bundled the ball over the line from close range.
Denis Zakaria went off injured and then Felix saw red. There could be no argument. It was a stupid challenge. But poor Potter must be wondering what on earth he has done to deserve this. He simply cannot catch a break.
Sure enough, it was a different game when Chelsea had ten men. Andreas Pereira’s cross from the right caught out Chelsea’s defence, it drifted to the back post and there was Vinicius to head home for a precious 73rd-minute winner.
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