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Graham Potter’s two key ideas to bring Chelsea closer to Man City & Pep Guardiola

Graham Potter’s two key ideas to bring Chelsea closer to Man City & Pep Guardiola

The Blues have improvements to make if they want to bridge the gap to last year's Premier League Champions.

Graham Potter has revealed that there are two key ideas for Chelsea to be able to close the gap to Manchester City and Pep Guardiola.

The Blues currently sit sixth in the Premier League table and they face a challenging battle to close up to the leaders.

Despite performing well in Europe recently, Chelsea have picked up a meagre two points from a possible nine in the League.

Since Potter’s arrival at the club following Thomas Tuchel’s dismissal things have largely improved, but an embarrassing 4-1 defeat to Brighton last weekend has left doubts.

It was the first loss since the English head coach took the reins at Stamford Bridge but the west London side did bounce back in midweek with a 2-1 win against Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League.

Graham Potter on the touchline against Dinamo Zagreb. (Alamy)
Graham Potter on the touchline against Dinamo Zagreb. (Alamy)

They will be hoping to continue on from this win on Sunday, when they play host to Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal side who sit top of the table.

If the Blues can pick up a result, it would be a big statement, the north London outfit have been in fine form this season and Chelsea need to narrow the gap.

The Gunners are ten points clear of Potter’s side and have been beaten just once in their first 12 games.

Their classy form will see them come into this clash high on confidence and they stand a good chance of beating an injury affected Chelsea side.

There is a long way to go this season for both teams, Arteta’s men are seemingly in a title fight whereas the Blues look to be in a battle for the top four.

This has been a common theme for Chelsea in recent years, while they have comfortably achieved top four places, they seem to be quite far away from the leaders.

Manchester City and Liverpool have run away with things for the past few seasons and 47-year-old Potter is hopeful of narrowing the gap.

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola on the sideline during the Premier League match at Anfield. (Alamy)
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola on the sideline during the Premier League match at Anfield. (Alamy)

Ahead of the London derby this weekend in his pre-match press conference the Englishman was asked about how he plans to bridge the gap to a team like City.

He responded: “There’s lots of things, aligning things in a better way - how we recruit, develop the football idea.

“We need some time in that regard because of the changes.

A little bit of stability and clever recruitment to add to what we" have.”

Potter arrived at Chelsea in September, so he is yet to take charge of a transfer window, it will be interesting to see in January if he makes further additions to shape the squad he wants and whether it will be one that can challenge at the very top.

Featured Image Credit: Alamy

Topics: Graham Potter, Chelsea, Premier League, Manchester City, Pep Guardiola, Football

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