Craig Burley believes injuries have added to the pressure being piled upon Graham Potter as Chelsea manager.
Speaking on ESPN, Burley partly blamed the questions being directed at Potter on the numerous personnel currently missing at Stamford Bridge.
The Blues boss faced more backlash yesterday, after his side were swept away by Arsenal on home soil.
Mikel Arteta’s men looked well drilled and determined to do a job; Chelsea the complete opposite.
But the story might’ve looked completely different had Chelsea been able to call upon their wounded soldiers.
Reece James, Wesley Fofana, N’Golo Kante, Kepa Arrizabalaga and Ben Chilwell all missed the fixture.
Mateo Kovacic was only fit enough for the bench.
Pretty much all of the six are starters when fully available, a point Rio Ferdinand was eager to make after Sunday’s showdown.
Whilst it’s not complete justification for the manner of Chelsea’s performance, the many absences certainly didn’t help.
It hasn’t aided Potter’s status at the helm of Todd Boehly’s project either.
Is Potter unfairly under pressure?
“Now, there are already one or two out there who think Todd Boehly and his cronies should go and replace this guy,” remarked Burley.
“That’s the world we live in these days.
“The truth of the matter is he has his hands tied behind his back in the sense he’s just arrived in, their injury list – and this is no excuse for their poor performance but maybe it’s an excuse as to why he can’t find a balance in the team – is as long as probably anyone’s in the league.
“That’s a huge problem for him, because you can mask that at Brighton in a sense. Not at Chelsea, not at Liverpool, not at (Manchester) City.
“He’s under pressure. I just hope there’s a lot of common sense at this club in the board room.”
Common sense should lead to Potter been giving the adequate period to improve the squad and work with the players he’s known for just under two months.
But common sense sometimes goes out of the window in football.
Sacking Thomas Tuchel at the beginning of the season seemed to be made without much common sense.
Just please do not act rashly again, Boehly.
Receive a digest of our best Chelsea content each week direct to your mailbox
