Manchester City added to Chelsea’s woes after Riyad Mahrez inspired them to a comfortable 4-0 rout in the FA Cup third round on Sunday.
City got off to the best possible start by dismissing dejected Chelsea with contemptuous ease at Etihad Stadium.
Pep Guardiola made seven changes to City’s lineup from Thursday’s 1-0 Premier League win at Chelsea.
But City was still too strong for a struggling Chelsea team as Riyad Mahrez opened the scoring with a superb free kick and a late penalty, while Julian Alvarez and Phil Foden also got their names on the score sheet.
City will now play either Premier League leaders Arsenal or third-tier Oxford in the fourth round, depending on who wins Monday’s game between Oxford and Arsenal.
Man City had already knocked Chelsea out of the League Cup, and their first exit from the FA Cup third round since 1998 was another blow to a season that was getting out of hand.
Even though it’s probably too early for Potter to worry about being fired, it’s only been four months since he came from Brighton to replace Thomas Tuchel.
The 47-year-old might be having trouble sleeping as he tries to fix his team’s terrible play.
Chelsea has only won three of their last 12 games in all competitions, and they are currently 10th in the Premier League, 10 points behind the top four spot that the club’s American owners would have expected Potter to deliver.
“The results in a small space of time are not positive. You can make excuses and look for reasons or say it isn’t good enough. Both of those answers are correct,” Potter said.
“We have to keep improving and stick together because clearly we are suffering as a football club and it’s not nice at all.”
Potter probably wasn’t comforted by the sound of Chelsea fans chanting Tuchel’s name because they miss the German who led them to Champions League glory in 2021.
“I would tell (Chelsea co-owner) Todd Boehly to give Graham Potter time. All coaches need time. At Barca, I didn’t need two seasons, but that’s because I had Messi,” Guardiola said.
Photo by EPA/Adam Vaughan
