Since replacing Wesley Fofana against AC Milan in early October, Trevoh Chalobah has barely left the pitch for Chelsea. The injury to his French teammate combined with the need to rest Thiago Silva has seen the young Cobham product become the consistent presence in Chelsea's backline, with his first substitution coming against Manchester City.
That perhaps makes him better placed than most to dissect the Blues' difficult period that has seen three defeats in their last four matches. The 23-year-old conceded that his team were still learning from Potter but are making progress.
Chalobah believes that even in defeat, Chelsea showed progress against Manchester City. However, he did not mince his words when describing the importance of Newcastle and the club's final Premier League fixture before the break.
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"Learning the way to play and it's going to take time, it's not going to happen overnight. We're going to get there, we showed a bit of confidence today playing out from the back and had a lot of chances. Could have come out with something in that game, but when you concede two against City it's always hard to come back but we've got to learn from this. It's a massive game on Saturday to make things right.
"Yeah, it's going to take time, day by day. We've got to make progress. After the game today, we showed some glimpses of things we've been working on and we can take into the next game.
"It's going to be massive game. They're in good form at the moment and it's away from home so we need to make sure we rest and recover. It's a final for us really, we want to go into the World Cup break on a high and three points."
Chelsea's defensive stocks have further been hit with injuries to Reece James and Ben Chilwell, who are both out of the World Cup. It will be a familiar feeling to supporters, who were without two of their most important players for large periods of last season.
The duo were central to the identity of a Thomas Tuchel team, and Chalobah believes they will be vital again under Potter as Chelsea look for a new one.
He said: "Both of our best full-backs out and they've been a massive part of our game, losing them has been a hard one but we have to adapt and try to find a solution.
"We're trying to find relationships, we're trying to find our identity, and we need everyone back to then try and find something. Hopefully get a win on Saturday and we get back after the World Cup - hopefully, all our players are back and we start fresh and go again."
While Chalobah would have been disappointed to concede the foul, that allowed Riyad Mahrez to open the scoring from a free kick, the young defender had put in a stubborn performance of blocks in the opening half as Man City surrounded the Blues' box. Few defenders will have played as often or as consistently as Chalobah, and while Chelsea's form may have halted some momentum, his form may have put him in the conversation for an England squad many would have never considered him in the same breath as merely a month ago.
Chalobah is not placing too much stock in the possibility of being named in Gareth Southgate's squad on Thursday afternoon however.
"For me, I leave it in God's hands," he said. "It's not been my focus but I've just tried to play every game here for Chelsea and give myself a chance but if not, rest up and go again second part of the season."
While Chalobah played his 10th match since the start of October, the evening saw Lewis Hall making his second start ever for the club. It was a situation that Chalobah found himself in not too long ago, as he broke into the first team under Tuchel in 2021/22.
That thought may be slightly premature for the 18-year-old Hall, but Chalobah recognises the fearless attitude the youngster showed.
"As a young player that's the most important thing, to show the reason why you got given the chance and be confident, you have nothing to lose," said Chalobah.
"We saw a bit of him last season when he played and made his debut and yeah he's a very good player, a powerful runner. We haven't trained as much to see as much of him but yeah he done really well today."
If Ben Chilwell remains out for an extended period, could we see more of Hall? "If he plays like that then, yeah, he's going to give an option to the manager," comes the reply.
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