Graham Potter critical of Chelsea defending in Everton draw

Head coach Graham Potter has acknowledged that he had been left dissatisfied with Chelsea‘s defending in the course of the 2-2 draw with Everton.

The Blues went into Saturday’s Premier League fixture at Stamford Bridge having recorded three successive wins in all competitions, conserving them in the hunt for European qualification.

When taking the lead by way of Joao Felix in opposition to Everton early in the second half, the expectation was that the West Londoners would kick on to safe most factors.

As a substitute, Abdoulaye Doucoure equalised for the Toffees 17 minutes later, and though Kai Havertz netted from the penalty spot to place Chelsea again in entrance, Ellis Simms netted a second leveller for the guests in the ultimate minute of regular time.

Whereas Potter was left impressed with Chelsea’s normal play, he was much less so along with his staff’s defending, the primary Everton objective coming after they received the primary header from a nook and Doucoure reacted quickest to transform from shut vary.

The pivotal effort on the finish of the sport was a end result of Simms powering previous Kalidou Koulibaly contained in the penalty space earlier than changing below Kepa Arrizabalaga.

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Talking after the match, Potter felt that the West Londoners had carried out sufficient to win the sport, however had no excuses when it got here to ‘duels being misplaced’ in key areas.

The Englishman informed Match Of The Day: “We did loads effectively and we’re dissatisfied with the targets we conceded tonight. We thought we performed effectively sufficient to get the three factors however in the end in case you do not defend effectively, you aren’t getting the end result.

“We misplaced duels in the field and if you lose the duels, there’s hazard. Credit score to Everton, they’re good at that however we’ve got to do higher. It is disappointing. There have been loads of good issues concerning the efficiency however we’ve got simply taken one level.

“We had been attacking after which they broke by way of. we needed to defend the set items and never enable ourselves to be open in large areas however we did that.

“Joao Felix was vigorous all through, Kai [Havertz] and Christian Pulisic had been good, good width from Ben [Chilwell] and Reece [James]. Enzo [Fernandez] and [Mateo] Kovacic in midfield drove the sport as effectively. Actually dissatisfied as a result of we needed to win.”

Chelsea stay in tenth place in the standings, 4 factors adrift of seventh-placed Brighton & Hove Albion having performed two matches greater than the Seagulls.

Potter’s aspect are subsequent in motion after they play host to Aston Villa on April 1, the 2 groups solely separated by objective distinction.