Graham Potter has explained why he subbed off Joao Felix at half-time during Chelsea’s win over Leicester City. Chelsea’s revival under ex-Brighton boss Potter continued at the King Power Stadium on Saturday as the Blues clinched a 3-1 win.
Potter was fighting to save his job at Stamford Bridge last month but Chelsea have now won three games in a row to improve their Premier League record and advance to the quarter-finals of the Champions League. Chelsea made a bright start at the King Power Stadium and took the lead on 11 minutes through England left-back Ben Chilwell.
Leicester’s Patson Daka rifled home an equaliser for the hosts but Chelsea regained their lead before half-time through a superb Kai Havertz lob. Mateo Kovacic put the game to bed with 12 minutes remaining as Leicester suffered their 16th defeat of the season, leaving them one point above the relegation zone. Potter subbed off January signing Felix at half-time and insisted the decision was purely ‘tactical’. Asked if Felix was struggling with an injury and had to be taken off, Potter said:
‘No, just tactically, I wanted to use an extra midfielder. ‘I felt we needed someone who could ball win, a different profile and I thought Conor [Gallagher] was fantastic when he came on.’
On Chelsea’s victory as a whole, Potter added:
‘It’s been a really positive week for us, three wins against Leeds, Dortmund and today says a lot about the development of the team. ‘It’s a hard fought game as they always are but in the end I thought we deserved to win.’
Former Leicester stars Chilwell and Wesley Fofana starred in Chelsea’s victory at the King Power Stadium and Potter said they handled their return to the club well. ‘Ben answered it in the perfect way, it was one of those games where the home crowd made it difficult but they handled it well,’ Potter said.
‘It wasn’t a straight forward game, Leicester had chances and we had to suffer but that will get better as we keep going. ‘Our defensive record has been good in terms of goals conceded in the Premier League and the mentality is strong in the team.
‘They give everything, they want to keep the ball out of the net and we have players on the other side who want to put the ball in the back of the net. ‘Three wins in the week at this level is very pleasing. Now we have to follow that up with a win next weekend and then into the international break. We will try to get three points against Everton.’
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