Graham Potter has said Chelsea must be positive against Crystal Palace on Sunday as they attempt to revive their season after the disastrous run that has piled pressure on the manager.
Thursday’s defeat at Fulham – their seventh from nine matches – left Chelsea 10th and cut adrift in the race for Champions League qualification. The former Brighton manager appealed for patience from supporters, with angry scenes in the away end at Craven Cottage when some Chelsea players went down the tunnel without acknowledging the fans.
Chelsea will be without João Félix at home to Palace after the Portugal forward’s red card on his debut and Denis Zakaria has joined the injury list, but Potter insisted his players must rise to the challenge.
“We have to recover from the disappointment of the game [against Fulham],” he said. “We have to assess all the players in terms of recovery and injury that we have. Then we have to be positive, move forward and take a home game on – another London derby against a dangerous group of players – prepare ourselves and be the better team.”
Asked whether he was disappointed to not have Félix – who joined this week on loan from Atlético Madrid for €10m (£8.8m) - Potter said: “Of course, disappointed because he came here to play. You saw his quality when he was on the pitch. To lose him for three games is a real blow for us but there’s nothing we can do now. We just have to deal with it.”
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was an unused substitute against Fulham and Potter insisted the Gabon forward still has a part to play despite being heavily criticised for his performance against Manchester City in the Premier League. “He was in our squad, he is important for us and I am sure he can help us going forward,” he said.
Potter acknowledged he has been frustrated by the injuries Chelsea have suffered after Zakaria joined Christian Pulisic, Raheem Sterling and several others on the injury list.
“We are looking all the time,” he said. “We’re going over how they are happening and trying to evaluate the whole thing. At the halfway point of the season it is not always easy to know how things happened. At the same time, there’s a bit of bad luck and also learning for us all in terms of how to go forward and improve. It is something we need to get to the bottom of.”
