Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola urged the Chelsea owners to give Graham Potter time to implement his ideas at Stamford Bridge after watching his team beat the west London club for the second time in four days.
Following Thursday’s 1-0 Premier League win which left Chelsea in 10th place in the standings, City eliminated Potter’s side from the FA Cup with a comfortable 4-0 triumph. Guardiola’s team had already defeated Chelsea in the League Cup this season.
City pulled away from their visitors with Riyad Mahrez opening the scoring with a stunning free-kick before Julian Alvarez converted a penalty on his first start since winning the World Cup with Argentina. Phil Foden added a third before half-time and then Mahrez applied the coup de grace with an 85th-minute penalty.
Three goals within 15 first-half minutes prompted boos from the 7,000 travelling supporters and by the second half Chelsea fans were singing the name of former owner Roman Abramovich and Potter’s predecessor Thomas Tuchel as they recalled happier times.
This was the heaviest defeat of the new manager’s reign thus far but Guardiola, who praised Potter when he was at Brighton & Hove Albion, urged Chelsea to stick with him.
“I would say to Todd Boehly; ‘Give him time’,” Guardiola said. “I know in the big clubs the results are important but I would say give him time. What he has done in Brighton was outstanding, but all managers need time. We needed time in my first season.
“It wasn’t the same in Barcelona because I had Messi there. That’s why I didn’t need two seasons, only one season. To play City when we are at this level is not easy. Not just for Graham or Chelsea but for every team.”
'We understand fans' frustrations'
Chelsea did not manage a shot in a first half Potter described as “painful”, failing to even vaguely threaten Stefan Ortega’s goal until a Mason Mount shot in the 54th minute which was deflected wide
He could point to an ongoing injury crisis which kept nine players out of this fixture and led to teenager Bashir Humphreys making his senior debut in defence, but Potter accepted Chelsea fans needed to see more. This was a fifth defeat in seven matches.
“The results in a small space of time are not positive,” he said. “You can make excuses and look for reasons or say it isn’t good enough. Both of those answers are correct. We have to keep improving and stick together because clearly we are suffering as a football club and it’s not nice at all. But that’s where we are at the moment.
“We can’t do anything apart from do our jobs better and work harder. You understand the supporters’ frustration, we respect that. But our job is to do our job and keep working.”
At least Chelsea are not due to face City again until they return to the Etihad Stadium in the league in May. “This opponent is probably the worst opponent you can play when things aren’t going very well because they can make you look like you’re not running or not trying because their positional structure is brilliant,” Potter added.
“They use the full width of the pitch, they keep the ball, they make it difficult for you to put any pressure on them. I am working with the players, I don’t get any sense of people with a poor attitude.
“Everyone wants to try and do better. I think there is support in the dressing room. We are just going through a bad moment and sometimes when you have these moments you need somebody or something to blame but we have to stick together and keep working.”
Mahrez struggled for form early this season but has shown signs he is almost back to his best — and has certainly thrived against Chelsea this term, scoring four goals in three games. The left-footed free-kick was whipped into the top corner of Kepa Arrizabalaga’s goal and his late penalty was emphatically struck, which bellied his recent record from the spot.
“The quality from Riyad is everything,” Guardiola said. “He loves to play football. He helped us to break the game with a fantastic free-kick. He played an outstanding game. Riyad in important games is a fantastic player, I know how important he is. Since we came back, he is playing really, really well.”