UK Edition
Jittery Chelsea hold on to earn Graham Potter relief and breathing space
By Sam Wallace at Stamford Bridge
The Apotterlypse averted. At last a shaft of sunlight for Chelsea’s embattled manager Graham Potter and a win that might just save his managerial skin for now.
This was by no means simple. A run of three straight Chelsea defeats was ended by the narrow margin - a second half header from Wesley Fofana that prefaced a Leeds United siege in the closing stages. It ended with a header from goalkeeper Ilan Meslier, up for a corner, that was caught easily by his counterpart Kepa Arrizabalaga but might otherwise have produced the kind of calamitous ending to which Potter has so far been accustomed.
This was Potter’s first win in six Premier League games, and only his third in the 16 that have come since his appointment. Yet it did not look like a template for his future Chelsea, if indeed there is to be a future. As the pressure built in the closing stages there were sections of the home support at Stamford Bridge who were dismayed by the cautiousness of a Chelsea team that settled into five at the back.
There is some breathing space at last, or at least 72 hours. Come Tuesday night, back at Stamford Bridge, there will be Champions League round of 16 second leg against a Borussia Dortmund side one goal up from the first leg and riding the crest of a wave. Their win over RB Leipzig on Friday night was their tenth in a row in all competitions. That game could be one of the classic European nights at 21st century Chelsea or it could be one of the worse.
Either way it will require the kind of ambition that Chelsea showed in the first half and then relinquished as the clock ran down. They were reshaped by Potter’s substitutions which were defensive to say the least and invited the pressure that ensued. A counterattack that petered out in the teeth of a general mood of cautiousness in the 75th minute was met with exasperated cries of encouragement from home fans to attack nonetheless.
“Frightened” was how Javi Gracia described the Chelsea mood in those closing stages, before correcting himself when he saw the amused reaction in the press room. Potter had taken off Joao Felix and Raheem Sterling on 68 minutes, with Conor Gallagher and Dennis Zakaria on in their place. Mateo Kovacic, back from injury, was replaced with Carney Chukwuemeka and Noni Madueke came on for Enzo Fernandez, Whatever the intention it was notable that Chelsea did fall back.
The Chelsea manager himself did not see it that way. He argued that Noni Madueke, his penultimate substitute, on for his £100 million man Enzo Fernandez, was an attacking change. Sterling, he said, was returning from injury. “The game got stretched and I wanted us to attack but as soon as you miss the opportunity then maybe you need to be stable,” Potter said. “But we want to try to score the second goal. That’s what we need to do. The boys have given everything.
“You are playing one of the best teams in the Premier League in terms of high intensity. So if the game starts to become ‘Hawaii football’ - up and down - then it can become a challenge for us. The boys stuck at it. The crowd were great. They want us to do well and they want us to win with more comfort. We all want that but again the moment we are in it's not so easy to do. The boys gave absolutely everything.”
Hawaii football or not – a phrase from the Scandinavian football lexicon that Potter has brought with him from Sweden – these were substitutions that could have bounced back very badly on the Chelsea manager. In the end this was a win that may not save his job but it has at least given him a chance. Up in the stands, Todd Boehly, festooned in box-fresh blue and white hat and scarf, may be able to see a way through this.
There were the usual worries about Kalidou Koulibaly when the scampering feet of Crysencio Summerville dragged him out of position. It was notable that Potter said the pace of Wesley Fofana had allowed his defensive line to press higher up the pitch – which is an option that is denied him when it is Thiago Silva partnering Koulibaly in the side.
For Leeds, there was nothing to lose in the final half an hour. The striker Georginio Rutter had offered little and the arrival of Wilfried Gnonto – and to a lesser extent Mateo Joseph – gave them a sharper edge in those closing stages. They had been on the back foot in the first half when there had been chances for Ben Chilwell and Kai Havertz – and Felix had struck the bar. But after Fofana headed in Chilwell’s corner then it was Chelsea who were in retreat.
The return to form of Chilwell was, Potter said, the culmination of a difficult process in which he had built up his minutes in games. “Ben has got stronger and stronger as the weeks have gone on and I thought he affected the game in a really good way,” Potter said. He will need him in the same form for Tuesday night when, once again, Chelsea and their manager have to win.
Chelsea 1 Leeds 0: As it happened
Matt Law's verdict
Relief for Chelsea and Graham Potter! Wesley Fofana's header secured a much-needed win for his team, but the Blues had to survive some late scares - not least when Leeds goalkeeper Illan Meslier headed straight at Kepa from a stoppage time corner. All that mattered today for Chelsea was the result. They got it - even though it wasn't particularly convincing.
Matt Law reports from Stamford Bridge
There were a smattering of boos at the half-time whistle as Chelsea went through yet another 45 minutes without scoring. Co-controlling owner Todd Boehly looked fed up in his blue and white beanie hat and scarf. He must be wondering how Kai Havertz could not score after being sent through on goal and wondering when Chelsea's luck will change, having seen Joao Felix hit the bar. Kalidou Koulibaly looked anything but assured in the first half.
Half-time: Chelsea 0 Leeds United 0
Chelsea were the bigger threat for the first half hour, carving out a handful of chances but Leeds grew into the game and looked far stronger at the end and have spooked a restless crowd. Chelsea's urgency has faded as the half progressed.
43 min: Chelsea 0 Leeds 0
Leeds are playing with more belief now, Chelsea with less. Loftus-Cheek wins it off Harrison and slots it upfield to Sterling but his cross is picked off by Ayling who passes to Koch and Leeds start a counter with Rutter and Aaronson which Koulibaly does well to smother. Aaronson breaks off his shoulder but Koulibaly slides to recover with excellent timing. He was sent off at Elland Road in August and might have been here too had he messed that up.
27 min: Chelsea 0 Leeds 0
Firpo loses possession after winning the ball off Sterling and Chelsea start probing around the box with Havertz, Kovacic and Felix but ultimately Summerville makes amends ... then can't put Aaronson away on the counter.
21 min: Chelsea 0 Leeds 0
Summerville and Chilwell exchange possession and Summerville ends up losing it. Chelsea pile forward, Sterling picks out Joao Felix's run at the edge of the area and the Portugal forward thumps a shot that hits the bar. It's still twanging minutes after.
17 min: Chelsea 0 Leeds 0
To say he's won a European Cup with his nose for goal, Havertz has to do better when played in behind by Sterling's cute pass. Ayling had played him onside and Koch can't get round on the cover. Into the box he goes and shoots on the angle from the right. Meslier saves well but didn't really have to do much. He went for power rather than chipping it.
Afternoon all
Leeds may have beaten a Chelsea this season but they failed to register a victory over Graham Potter's Brighton, losing three and drawing two, the last defeat in August 2022 at the start of the season. They did manage to beat his Swansea side once, winning 2-1 in 2019, a match in which Luke Ayling and Jack Harrison also featured. In fact Harrison, who starts in preference to Willy Gnonto on the left today, scored the winning goal.
Changes for both teams
Graham Potter brings Mateo Kovacic into his midfield, with Hakim Ziyech dropping to the bench.
Benoit Badiashile comes in for Thiago Silva who injured his knee against Tottenham and will be out for six weeks, while Wesley Fofana comes in at right-back with Reece James unavailable with a hamstring problem.
For Leeds, Max Wober returns in central defence after missing the FA Cup defeat to Fulham, with Pascal Struijk fit enough for the bench after suffering a concussion.
The two teams and benches
Chelsea XI: Arrizabalaga, Wesley Fofana, Koulibaly, Badiashile, Chilwell, Loftus-Cheek, Fernandez, Joao Felix, Kovacic, Sterling, Havertz
Subs: Aubameyang, Bettinelli, Chalobah, Mudryk, Zakaria, Ziyech, Gallagher, Chukwuemeka, Madueke
Leeds United XI: Meslier, Ayling, Koch, Wober, Firpo, Adams, McKennie, Summerville, Aaronson, Harrison, Rutter
Subs: Roca, Gyabi, Struijk, Robles, Kristensen, Gnonto, Greenwood, Fernandez, Gray
Preview: Potter on the precipice?
Good afternoon and welcome to coverage of Chelsea vs Leeds United at Stamford Bridge, a place where Leeds United have not won since Stephen McPhail scored twice in December 1999. The visitors arrive in 17th place after their victory over Southampton last weekend and with the fillip of a 3-0 victory over their hosts at Elland Road in August, the diamond amid the dross of their season under Jesse Marsch.
Chelsea, as any fule kno, are stuck in what optimists might term a transitional period and pessimists would call a mess. They have a very capable manager – albeit one whose Brighton teams struggled to put teams away and score hatfuls of goals – and a squad assembled seemingly without regard to a settled pattern of play. Anyone with money can sign very good prospects. It takes a bit more to sign the right players for the team and its manager. It would be unfair to judge the recruitment this early but time and patience from the Bridge faithful is patently not something that Graham Potter will continue to enjoy unless he puts an immediate stop to some extremely tentative form and a record of five games without a win, or let's be frank, even a spark.
We know what Jose Mourinho would do after such a run. He would come out unshaven, binning the suit for the tracksuit and even boots, with performative flamboyance to emphasise that he's been getting down to work. Potter is not the type and I think it's true to say that he is being judged by the standards of his predecessors' capacity for showy rage – not just Mourinho but Antonio Conte and Thomas Tuchel as well. It is to his credit that he does not play those games of deflection but being a decent, honest sort won't help him if Chelsea lose today.
On last week's showing Leeds will be more compact, less frenetic and ought to feel that their best route to taking something is keeping it tight for as long as possible and frustrating the crowd as well as their opponents. If they can make the Bridge tetchy, they may be on to something ... if they can score, an art that has become increasingly difficult for them in recent weeks.