Graham Potter suffered his first Champions League defeat as Chelsea manager with Borussia Dortmund beating the Blues in their last-16 first leg at Signal Iduna Park. Prior to the defeat in Germany, Potter had gone five European games unbeaten winning three and drawing two, but Karim Adeyemi's goal has put Chelsea behind at half time in the tie with the second leg set for March 7.
Despite the hostile atmosphere the yellow wall provide for Dortmund, Chelsea had more than enough chances to win the game. Joao Felix went close twice in the first half with his second effort striking the bar before an in swinging corner caused Dortmund problems just after the hour mark, but no less than 30 seconds later the hosts were in front.
Adeyemi raced onto the eventual clearance from Dortmund and glided past Enzo Fernandez, who was the last man, before rounding Kepa Arrizabalaga to score. Kalidou Koulibaly was millimetres away from equalising in the final few minutes after his short squirmed beyond Gregor Kobel, but Emre Can was on hand to swipe the ball off the line.
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Ben Chilwell and Koulibaly were brought into the starting XI replacing Marc Cucurella and Benoit Badiashile. Both put in impressive performances on their returns to the eleven picked by Potter, but Chilwell could now be facing a similar issue to Raheem Sterling.
“About five minutes before he came off, he had a run down the side and had a kick on his ankle," Potter said. I haven’t checked it over but I think it’s more a kick than anything else and probably a little bit of fatigue.
Sterling has missed the last two games for Chelsea after suffering a kick to the knee in training, but a return back to the matchday squad could be on the horizon for the weekend.
The former Manchester City midfielder will now likely join a number of players pushing for a spot back in Potter's starting XI thoughts. Many of those stars had the perfect opportunity to do so with the Blues completing a training session at Cobham on Thursday evening.
With all those who started in Germany not present, first-team players on the fringes such as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and David Datro Fofana took part while Mateo Kovacic and Denis Zakaria, who have stepped up their injury recovery process, were also present.
With the Blues clash against Southampton coming just three days after their battle in Germany, Potter could revert back to his team selection stance in late 2022 where significant changes were made between games. Reece James has played 180 minutes in the last week which could see him given a rest, while Kovacic and Zakaria are likely chomping at the bit for a chance to play alongside Enzo Fernandez.
In attack, Fofana and Aubameyang could have certainly posed a question to Potter with Kai Havertz continuing to struggle in front of goal. While Wesley Fofana trained once again as he hopes to be in a Chelsea matchday squad for the first time since October.
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