Chelsea endured enormous pressure from Villa Park to win 2-0 over Aston Villa thanks to Kepa Azibalanga’s heroics and a brace from Mason Mount.
Mason Mount gave Chelsea the lead in the 6th minute after pouncing on Tyrone Mings’s terrible header to slot past Emi Martinez to give Chelsea the lead. The blues were able to sustain the lead thanks to excellent saves from Kepa Azibalanga.
Despite Chelsea leading 1-0 at halftime, Graham Potter decided to sub off Kai Havertz and Marc Cucurrella after the break with Kalidou Koulibaly and Cesar Azpilicueta switching from four back to five back.
Graham Potter has revealed that he needed to switch from a four-back to a five-back to be stronger in midfield.
What did Graham Potter say?
The Chelsea manager said on Chelsea TV: “It was more tactically.
“I thought we had to probably be a back five, more so, and be a bit stronger in the midfield area so we just had to adjust it.
“Sometimes [changes] go for you, sometimes they don’t. Credit to the players, they’re all ready to fight, and they’re all ready to help the team.
“So we’re in a good moment at the moment, but we know there’s another game coming.”
Potter spoke on the leadership of Thiago Silva on the pitch. The Brazilian international is 38 years old but plays like he is young.
“I’ve spoken about him a lot and I’ve said [coming off the pitch] that I think he has to relax a little bit more on the ball, he panics far too much! He is at the highest level you can think of as a character and as a man. How he leads the team, how he is playing, he has made some really important blocks and interceptions,” Graham Potter said on Thiago Silva.
“He has that know-how that you can’t put a price on. He felt a little tightness in his hamstring so we’ll see how he recovers for Wednesday but apart from that, he is a top person.”
Chelsea will miss Reece James for eight weeks with a knee injury. The England international is also expected to miss the World Cup.
On how he has replaced Reece James in the Chelsea squad, Graham Potter said: “It can happen sometimes when you lose a key player, you need to try to get a feel. We tried to be back three in the build-up and back four defensively with Raheem [Sterling as a wing-back].
“I thought we started the game quite well in the first 15 minutes but then we lost a bit of momentum and they were able to put pressure on, pick up second balls and get behind us. We had to make a change at half-time I felt and the boys did it well. We’ve got options there.”
“In terms of his involvement in the World Cup, I don’t know. It will depend on how he recovers. He will give everything. I’m sure he will. But he is in a brace for four weeks and that slows everything down.
“The boys had a couple of days free and – especially with the International players – it’s important to give them a break when you can and that’s the idea. Reece felt a bit of discomfort the following day, came home, and we got it assessed as quickly as we could. Nothing has got worse because of how we acted in those times. Now we have to support him and get him strong.”
Chelsea will face Brentford on Wednesday in the Premier League.
