We're on the verge of another weekend of football and following a second impressive win over AC Milan, Graham Potter and Chelsea have certainly built their confidence heading into the game against Aston Villa. Despite opening up his tenure with a draw against Red Bull Salzburg, Potter has guided the Blues to four wins in a row following the international break.
Safe to say, the atmosphere has changed around Stamford Bridge but with no let-up in the fixture list, the pressure to keep on producing remains on. The Blues have five fixtures before the end of the month and nine before the Premier League breaks up for the World Cup.
Chelsea will hope to take advantage against an under pressure Villa team on Sunday, with Steven Gerrard's position coming into question despite Villa being unbeaten in their last four matches. Another win would not see Chelsea rise further up the table however, as they currently sit four points behind Spurs in fourth, albeit with a game in hand of the Lilywhites.
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With that said, football.london takes a look at the topics Potter will have to face ahead of this weekend's match.
Reece James update
Chelsea's star player presented the only negative at the San Siro when he needed to be substituted in the second period following a blow to his knee. The wing-back has shown his quality time and again this season and followers of Chelsea and England would have shown concern at the visual of James leaving the pitch.
Following the game on Tuesday, Potter noted: “Reece, we’re hoping he’ll be ok. [We’ll need] 24-48 hours because it’s too early to tell you anything more than that.”
That leaves this afternoon as the perfect opportunity to provide an update. Whatever the outcome, it seems unlikely James will feature against Aston Villa but there has been some cause for home following the incident.
James did not leave the ground with crutches, as his teammate Wesley Fofana did just a week before against the same opposition, and did not travel back with the team, instead spending some time in Italy in the aftermath. He posted on Twitter: "Fingers crossed it’s not a bad one. Love for all the messages, I appreciate you all."
Reports suggest the wing-back could return as soon as Chelsea's Brentford clash, though he did post a cryptic message that left that uncertain.
N'Golo Kante injury latest
When the French midfielder didn't turn out for the open section of Chelsea training on Monday, before their trip to Italy, it didn't feel like good news in terms of Kante's bid to return from injury. The 31-year-old has made just two starts this season, and has not featured since he picked up an issue against Tottenham in August.
Potter had earlier detailed that Kante had started to be integrated into Chelsea training but an issue following one session left the Blues waiting to see how the former Leicester start had reacted.
He said: "N'Golo we're just waiting. He had a reaction in training, so we're just waiting for the news on that... It's not ideal [Kante's issue] and disappointing for him and for us, so we have to wait and see the extent of it and then go from there."
With Potter questioned over the future of Thiago Silva recently, and the Brazilian tasked with the same queries, in addition to Jorginho's agent declaring that his client hopes to remain in west London - it seems questions over Kante's future will soon come.
The midfielder's contract is set to expire in the summer, and while Potter has not had much opportunity to analyse Kante since his arrival, he may soon be part of some big decisions on his future.
Joe Shields
A week ago, Potter was asked about the prospect of being joined at Chelsea by Christopher Vivell, as the club's new technical director. Now, the former Brighton boss appears set to be asked about the potential of Southampton's Joe Shields becoming head of recruitment.
In his early weeks as Blues boss, Potter has already made it clear that he is reluctant to talk about individuals who are not at Chelsea but as Todd Boehly and co continue to make changes behind the scenes, questions will continue to arise. What may be key, is discovering what kind of role, if any, Potter has in deciding or vetting candidates for such roles given he is likely to be working closely with any hire.
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