Graham Potter has admitted the best way to prove his methods to Chelsea’s players is by winning at historic places like San Siro.
Potter has made an impressive start since taking over as Chelsea boss and beat Italian champions AC Milan at Stamford Bridge last week. That came in-between two Premier League wins which have lifted Chelsea back into the top four.
But a trip to one of Europe’s most iconic stadiums is an even bigger challenge and another victory would be an impressive statement. Potter said: “That's our challenge, that's what we have to try to do. You’re right, it is an incredible place here and it will be a completely different game.
“AC Milan will try to use the home advantage as we did last week. It is two good teams, two evenly-matched teams. So it will be a fantastic game and I’m looking forward to it. As I used to say at Brighton, wins are the best way to convince people that your ideas can work and it is only a short time, so I’m not getting carried away.
“Wins help but it’s about getting to know the players and the process. But we all know – and you guys will remind me – that we need to win as well. So it was a good week, but it was only a week.”
Potter has already made his mark at Chelsea by restoring some confidence and the style of football is slowly returning, even if they did make seven changes against Wolves last Saturday to make sure they were ready for their trip to Milan.
What is your scoreline prediction for AC Milan versus Chelsea? Have your say in the comments!
Chelsea’s first encounter with Milan last week was a must-win and victory has at least eased the pressure in their Champions League group. But Potter is having to make improvements and tweaks as he goes along because he has not had much time to work with the players.
Potter added: “There hasn’t been so much time on the training pitch but you can still work in other ways. We’ve had the international break as well, so it’s been one of those periods that you have to deal with as best you can.
“It’s about trying to understand the players and getting to know them better, building relationships, prepare the games, analyse the games, and then try to move forward.
“We've had to use meetings, video, we've had to communicate, speak, explain, talk. We just to try to understand where the players have been at and how we can help them. As I’ve said before, they are really honest, responsible, I've found them really receptive, so it's a pleasure to work with them.”
Chelsea are without Hakim Ziyech as he is out through illness while N’Golo Kante has suffered yet another setback after breaking down in training. That is another massive blow for Kante, whose contract is running down at Chelsea and is running out ahead of the World Cup.
Potter said: “N'Golo we're just waiting on, he had a reaction in training. So we're just waiting for the news of that. Hakim's got a sore throat, so that's why he didn't travel. Well it's not ideal and it is disappointing for him and us. So we we have to wait and see the extent of it and go from there.
“But the fact we could rotate a few on Saturday has probably helped us in terms of availability for this game and hopefully a bit of freshness. We’re going to need that because it’s going to be a physically demanding game.”
