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Football London
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Scott Trotter

Every word Graham Potter said on Chelsea vs Dinamo Zagreb, Zakaria, Kovacic, Koulibaly and Kepa

Kepa Arrizabalaga and Mateo Kovacic weren't in training, what is their status?

Kepa won't be available for the game, Slight issue with his plantar fascia. Looking at probably days but certainly not for the game tomorrow. Kovacic, just precautionary with his calf. Got a chance for the game tomorrow. We'll make the decision later on.

Is Koulibaly available now?

He will provided there's no reaction. He trained today so he was fine. He's available and in the squad tomorrow.

Have you spoken to Edouard Mendy about how he's found things?

Yeah, I've had some good chats with him. He's been great, top professional, very supportive. Obviously was injured when we first arrived so Kepa played and Kepa did well. He's honest enough and professional enough to know that sometimes you have to be patient and work hard and support the team and support Kepa which is exactly what he did.

We can't ask any more and he's made sure he's ready, he's made sure he's trained well and he's kept his standard really high and now he's got an opportunity. It's unfortunate for Kepa that it's come about like that. That's life, that's professional football and he's ready.

READ MORE: Behind the scenes in Chelsea training for Dinamo clash as four youngsters join amid injury issue

Set up for a difficult decision between the two?

Well, you hope so. You hope you have as many difficult decisions as possible all over the team because you've got competition, you've got good players pushing each other to improve and that can only be beneficial for the team.

You wanted time after Saturday to analyse the performance, when was that right and what were your main conclusions?

It's been a process since the game to be honest. It's one of those things you have to deal with. It's never nice to lose and the manner that we did was not pleasant. I think we got caught up with the atmosphere. I think they came out of the blocks very fast, we didn't do that. Before we can talk about anything form a tactical perspective, we're 2-0 down and then the environment is completely positive for the home team and not to us.

We had a big chance to make it 2-1 and then the game became a little bit open that we would like. Their goalie makes another good save but in the end we didn't do well enough to get the points. We scored at the start of the second half, at that point pushed and pushed for a little bit, if we'd scored maybe it would have been interesting. As the game went into the last bits as we were pushing to get a goal, too much probably, it opens us up and the fourth one is disappointing and the scoreline is what it is. Overall we have to learn from the game and we have to be better.

What impact will Saturday have on how you approach tomorrow? Is it an opportunity for an experimental team?

We have to have respect for the competition and respect for the teams. We have to prepare to win. We're at home, we want to finish the competition off well at this stage and we want to respond from the disappointment of the weekend. We'll pick a team that we think can win with respect to the opponent and we'll try our best.

20 days away from the World Cup, are you concerned that Raheem Sterling is losing his form at the wrong time?

I've not thought about that to be honest in terms of the World Cup.

For you?

That's your opinion, every player has times in a season where it isn't necessarily going for them as well as they'd like it to. Again, as I've mentioned before, it's too easy to zoom into the individual and you've got to look at the team and see how the team is functioning and how the team can help whatever player you mention. That's what we've tried to do, you have try to help the team improve and then the individuals within it can do better.

You've had youngsters involved in the training sessions recently, are we likely to see any and have any particularly impressed you so far?

As I said before I don't think it's a time to be using young players just for the sake of it. I think we have to be competitive and respectful of the competition. There are still teams looking for points for their own qualification. So from our perspective we have try and pick a team we think can win the game.

We've used a lot of young players like you said, a lot of them have been impressive, I like the character, I like the personality and it's been an important part of how we've started here at Chelsea to get closer to the academy guys and to get to know them.

How do you rate Dinamo, and is there a sense in the locker room that they want revenge. You have only lost to Dinamo and that's probably why you are here.

Thanks. We've got first hand experience that Dinamo are a talented side with dangerous players. Certainly the front positions dangerous, good width, well organised. Quality team that you would expect at this level. It's the Champions League. They've earned their right to be here, they're still competing for the points so we have to be good, we have to be ready for them. We're looking forward to the game, we're looking forward to, I'm not going to say revenge, but of course we want a positive result because we're at home and want to finish the competition off well. Since that game I think we've taken steps forward but we have to take steps again if we want to get a result.

What kind of game do you expect tactically?

I don't think two games are the same, I think it would be wrong for us to think that and you should never predict what the game is going to be. We're at home, we need to realise that we should be the protagonist in the game because we're at home at Stamford Bridge. We want to try and be proactive and try and create and be on the front foot. At the same time, Dinamo have got dangerous players. They have dangerous players if they defend deep. They can break, they can use the forwards well, they can spring from defence to attack in a dangerous manner. You only have to look at the goal they scored against us in the first game. It's a quality counter-attacking goal. We understand the quality of the opponent and we just have to play the game and whatever happens, happens.

Will there be an opportunity for Denis Zakaria? What conversations have you had with him? It must have been difficult.

Exactly. As I've said before, he's been really good, he's trained well, supported his teammates. Obviously disappointed not to play like everybody is but up until the weekend results have been positive, performances, we've been trying to take steps. He's in the frame tomorrow, he's in the squad, he's available for selection so we'll wait and see.

The word pressure has emerged since the weekend, do you embrace that?

Pressure? From one game you mean? In my job, or where I'm sat, you've got to be careful what you listen to. People can talk and say whatever. It's just part of life, you understand at a club like this that you're only 90 minutes away from a crisis and you have to put things into perspective. You have to understand where you've been and what has happened and look at it as intelligently as you can. Whatever people say from the outside - there's always opinions, there's always people that don't like you, there's always people that will have a different view of how the situation is. You can't control that. All I can do is focus on how I think, what I think and how I act and let the noise carry on.

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