Chelsea boss Graham Potter has seen strong sack claims dissipate in the last seven days after the Blues picked up their third consecutive victory by beating Leicester. After just one win in 2023, Potter was at risk of losing his job at Chelsea heading into March, however wins against Leeds, Borussia Dortmund and Leicester have seen the pressure lessen significantly.
Despite defeats against Southampton and London rivals Tottenham in February, football.london reported that Potter still had the support of the Chelsea board room heading into a crucial week in two competitions. A Stamford Bridge clash against Leeds was seen by many as the perfect springboard and opportunity to build momentum into a decisive European clash.
A Wesley Fofana goal gave Chelsea the three points at the weekend before strikes from Raheem Sterling and Kai Havertz overturned a one-goal deficit to place Chelsea into the quarter-finals with a 2-1 aggregate win against Dortmund.
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A third victory in seven days away to Leicester this past weekend showed further signs of things improving. The Blues delivered a cohesive and dominant performance at King Power Stadium, scoring three goals for the first time in five months.
The Leeds clash was considered pivotal by many and when discussing Potter's job security, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Jamie Redknapp began a rather heated debate on the importance of the game against Leeds. Speaking on Sky Sports, Redknapp said: "I’d go as far to say I think if they’d lost against Leeds he’d have lost his job. I do. I think that was the case, but that just shows you how quickly things can change.
"There’s moments in managerial careers, you can go back through the greatest in Premier League history - Sir Alex Ferguson, some of the results he picked up. I genuinely think it was that precarious for him." Former Chelsea star Hasselbaink responded: "I think the owners are having a project and he is big part of that project."
Redknapp then proceeded to cut in, further explaining his reasoning behind his initial point: "I'm not so sure. I’m not saying they haven’t got a project, but I think you get to a point so far when the manager’s come in, there’s a certain amount of pressure, and I think if they’d have lost that game [against Leeds] that was it for him, the three games have been so important since."
Hasselbaink then made a valid point regarding the ownership change: "Maybe with the other owner [Abramovich] it would have been months before but I don’t think with these owners. They believe in Potter and they want this to go for a long time."
Nonetheless, a win over Leeds followed by another two triumphs now means that Potter is certainly safe in his job for at least another few weeks. Chelsea's Champions League campaign will ultimately be decisive when determining the success of this season with the quarter-final draw set for Friday, March 17.
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