Graham Potter faces ‘make or break’ games despite backing from Chelsea owners

The message from the owners remains one of wanting to provide support and backing, and yet the growing feeling around Chelsea is that the next two games will ultimately be make or break for head coach Graham Potter.

Chelsea’s run is not just testing the faith of the owners, with senior players said to be concerned over whether or not Potter can turn the situation around, new signings shocked by the pressure they are already under and anger among those who are having to be left out of the matchday squad.

Todd Boehly was at Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday to see Chelsea’s latest defeat and is scheduled to be joined by co-controlling owner Behdad Eghbali for the games against Leeds United and Borussia Dortmund at Stamford Bridge.

Given the current circumstances, that feels significant enough and even if he were not sacked immediately after the Dortmund game if Chelsea have failed to win either of their next two matches, those around the club, including players, believe there would ultimately be no way back.

Rather than looking to Mikel Arteta for inspiration, as he did after Sunday’s defeat by Tottenham, Potter and Chelsea might be better to look at Mauricio Pochettino’s start to life at Spurs nine years ago for encouragement that all hope of a turnaround is not lost.

There is plenty of sympathy and understanding for what many believe is the impossible situation Potter has been placed in trying to manage such a bloated squad, but his enforced decisions are provoking frustration and some anger.

Telegraph Sport understands more than one of the players left out of the matchday squad for the Spurs game were shocked to find out they would not even be on the substitutes’ bench.

Potter claimed Mateo Kovacic had missed the Tottenham game through illness and said Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Cucurella, Carney Chukwuemeka and David Datro Fofana were “unfortunate” to be left out of the squad. Cesar Azpilicueta travelled to Tottenham, but was unavailable after suffering concussion against Southampton.

The decisions facing Potter will get more complex with N’Golo Kante and Christian Pulisic returning from injury and more players having to be left out of the squad to accommodate them on their return.

Goalkeeper Edouard Mendy, who lost his place to Kepa Arrizabalaga and has turned down at least one new contract offer from Chelsea, has seemingly not been in any rush to return from surgery he underwent on a fractured finger almost two months ago.

A petition that was immediately created after the defeat by Spurs demanding the sacking of Potter can be attributed to keyboard warriors, despite receiving over 30,000 signatures by Monday morning, and Boehly will be relieved that he will not have been able to hear chanting against the 47-year-old from his seat in the directors’ box.

The fear is that will change if Chelsea go behind against Leeds in front of their own fans on Saturday or if they crash out of the Champions League to Borussia Dortmund next Tuesday which would put the nail in the coffin of any dreams of qualifying for next season’s competition.

Chelsea have tried to liken their faith in Potter to Arsenal’s backing of Arteta and Potter even claimed to have spoken to people ahead of the Spurs game about watching the All or Nothing documentary and the comparisons which could be drawn.

Arteta reached the Europa League semi-final the season before the All or Nothing documentary was filmed when the Spaniard faced calls for him to be sacked after starting the campaign with three successive league defeats.

But Arteta had already won the FA Cup at the end of his first campaign in charge, also lifting the club from 10th place when he took over to eighth by the end of the season.

Having lost the first three league games of last season, Arsenal then won the next three and went on a 10-game unbeaten run in all competitions and improved on their previous campaign by finishing fifth, despite missing out on Champions League qualification.

Potter admitted he did not have credit in the bank with Chelsea and his situation is probably more comparable to that of Pochettino when he first took over at Tottenham.

Pochettino has claimed he would have been sacked just 17 games into his Spurs career if his team had lost at Aston Villa in Nov 2014. Trailing after 83 minutes, Tottenham scored twice in the last seven minutes, with a certain Harry Kane netting a 90th-minute winner, to claim a victory the Argentine believed saved his job.

Having moved to Tottenham from Southampton, doubts had been cast over whether or not Pochettino could handle the step up after a run of just one win in seven League games, which included home defeats to West Bromwich Albion and Newcastle United.

Like Potter, Pochettino had inherited a fractured squad after Tottenham had spent the money earned from the sale of Gareth Bale on a host of players with limited results and problems in the striking department with both Emmanuel Adebayor and Roberto Soldado struggling.

Although the success at Villa was followed by a League defeat at home to Stoke City, Pochettino felt that it proved to be a turning point for him at Tottenham where he eventually spent five-and-a-half years and took the club to the final of the Champions League.

Potter may well be approaching his make or break moment at Chelsea, no matter how much the club’s American owners are holding on to the dream of a Hollywood ending.