Potter looking to build on recent good feels at Chelsea but Mudryk unlikely to start against Liverpool

Chelsea have engaged in a fair amount of retail therapy over the past couple weeks, and, combined with last weekend’s 1-0 win over Crystal Palace, that has indeed lifted the mood a little bit around the club. We just have to avoid looking at the table, which still shows Chelsea smack dab in the middle, in 10th, on the back of a quarter-century-worst run of results.

Of course, perhaps even more surprisingly, Liverpool are right there with us as well, which goes to show how quickly the mighty can fall in this ultra-competitive league we call The Best League In The World™.

That said, Liverpool have lost at home just once all season in any competition, and that’s not something we can overcome simply with some good vibes and positive thoughts.

“No matter who you are — and we’re talking about one of the best teams the Premier League has seen, and one of the best managers the Premier League has seen — if you have injuries you have problems. It amazes me that people say the Premier League is the best league in the world and then I’m asked if it’s a surprise someone is struggling. That’s what it is. Jürgen [Klopp] is a fantastic guy and manager. They’ll fix it and come through their struggles. Then we all know their quality.”

“[We] had a period of suffering and it’s nice to win. During that period, we were together, there weren’t flames here. It was a group that understood the position we were in but at the same time, focused and determined to turn things around. There was a maturity and intelligence to understand the situation without disrespecting the criticism and noise that comes your way when you don’t get the results you should at Chelsea. The win has been important but it’s just a win. We have to back it up, go to Liverpool, and try to get the three points.”

“[Anfield] is a tough place to go at any point [but] I like the team at the moment for us, I like [that] we’ve come through a tough spell. There is a good feeling. Players are coming back, new players are arriving, there is a buzz around the training ground that is nice.”

Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images

One of those new players is young Mykhailo Mudryk, one of our most expensive and also most exciting signings ever. He might help us overcome Liverpool (and others) with something more tangible than just positive buzz, but he may not quite be quite ready for that yet.

“[He’s settled in] really well. He’s a young player, an exciting player, fantastic speed and excellent in one-vs-one situations. He can attack the backline and now we’ve just got to help him adapt to the Premier League and adapt to us. He’s come from a mid-season break so hasn’t played so much football recently. But he’s been training well. So we’ll assess him and see how much he can play at the weekend.

“There’s a chance [he makes his debut]. It’s about how much he can do. 90 minutes? No, but there is probably a role for him at some stage of the game. [He’s] come from a different country and a different league. So he has to adapt to us and to the competition. He is a young player that has a lot of potential, a lot of upside. He’s also had some really good experiences already so he’s an exciting player.”

Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images

Mudryk and all the rest of the new arrivals, and also all the like-new arrivals of players coming back from injuries — none of whom will be ready for Liverpool — will have two weeks after this game to focus on just training and just integrating into the team. That mini-break will also provide Potter with proper training time.

So, no more excuses, right?

“[The challenge] going forward is to integrate new players into the group and create a feeling of togetherness. We’ve got a lot of exciting things coming up so we need to be ready.

“It’s two weeks and it’s an important period for us. When you consider we’ve got new faces and players coming back from injury, it is going to be important and one we’re looking forward to. We have to focus on the game first, get that out of the way and recover. But we’ll use the time as best we can.”

-Graham Potter; source: Football.London

Let’s get this pesky football out of the way and focus on more transfers and training! Could we maybe hope for a point at least in the meantime?