There is a lot of speculation surrounding Graham Potter’s future and despite all the positive buzz coming from the owners about backing their man to the end, it seems clear to us that this month will be final.
We played 4 games and 4 losses would mean Potter is gone no matter what we are sure of that. But if you were a member of a casino syndicate and wanted to speculate on how exactly that might happen, where might you land?
All games seem to be won to some degree, but that only makes the pressure to win even more intense.
Potter seems to be on the edge of the abyss, but then again he felt that way for a while. If you had asked us earlier in the year if he could survive the streak he’s on now, we would have said no, so clearly these are exceptional circumstances.
We think he wouldn’t be sacked even with a home loss to Leeds this weekend, although the atmosphere at Stamford Bridge would turn poisonous to a degree we can’t imagine.
Then comes the second leg against Borussia Dortmund. The first game of the tie summed up our last few months: lots of chances, no goals scored and a loss after conceding a terrible goal to the opposition.
This game feels like the key, because a win here reverses the pain of the first leg and gives us something to play for again.
After that, it’s a trip to Leicester, a team that is hard to fathom this year, but has plenty of talent and more than enough skill to beat us if we play the way we have since the World Cup.
On the other hand, if we have a bit of momentum going into that game after turning around the Dortmund tie, they’re the perfect low-stakes side who could easily be toppled by a buoyant Blues side.
After that, perhaps the most difficult game of all, since we face Everton before the international break. The Toffees are pretty terrible and lurking in the relegation zone, but they have Sean Dyche as their manager. If anyone has the ability to make his team win against us and kill Potter, it’s Dyche.
Let’s just hope we don’t give him a chance to earn that right. Get a few wins before then and we could see a confident Chelsea sweep a rotten team.
Well, we can dream.
