Graham Potter aces step up as Star missing in Chelsea training ahead of Crystal Palace

Graham Potter has been in charge of Chelsea’s training sessions so far this week, although many members of his team are still absent.

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When Chelsea travels to Selhurst Park to face Crystal Palace this Saturday, Graham Potter will be in charge of his first Premier League game. The 10-day international break is almost over, and the 47-year-old is now anticipating the arrival of the great majority of his players who joined up with their national teams during that time.

Potter explained his team selection strategy prior to his first match in charge against Red Bull Salzburg, saying he was going for players with “good experience and good knowledge of the Champions League and this football club.” As a result, players like Wesley Fofana and Kalidou Koulibaly had to settle for a spot on the bench. When Chelsea’s game against Liverpool was postponed, they played a friendly game with Brighton behind closed doors, but Potter hasn’t had much contact time to go beyond his early impressions.

However, Potter will have had plenty of time over the international break to investigate and evaluate his team. While many of his players will be returning to Cobham from all over Europe and beyond in the coming days, several have already done so and have already participated in some training sessions.

With that stated, football.london examines what we’ve observed from the team’s first few days of training with Potter following their break.

N’Golo Kante is back.
Witnessing N’Golo Kante return to ‘part’ training on Tuesday was maybe the most noteworthy moment. The Frenchman started Chelsea’s first two games of the season but missed the next six due to a hamstring injury he sustained against Spurs. As a result, he was not selected for the France team.

Kante was intended to remain sidelined for at least four weeks, but he has already been six without playing, despite having previously done solo outdoor training before reuniting with his squad this week. Thomas Tuchel found the 31-year-old to be a crucial player, but the German coach was irritated by the player’s history of injuries. It remains to be seen if Kante can assume equal significance for Potter given the demanding October that is coming and yet be healthy for the World Cup.

Missing one participant

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Trevoh Chalobah, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Kepa Arrizabalaga, and Marcus Bettinelli were all there on Monday, as was to be expected. Those not involved with international football were also the first to return. In order to create a strong pool of goalkeepers for the new coach Ben Roberts to work with, Edouard Mendy was also with the group. James Russell, the assistant goalkeeping coach, was still actively participating in exercises.

Mendy looks to have improved his fitness after dropping out of Chelsea’s most recent game due to a knee injury.

Marc Cucurella is the only person who hasn’t been enlisted for overseas service and hasn’t yet been featured in a photo shoot. The Spaniard, who was crucial to the new Chelsea coach’s first game, is obviously already familiar with Potter and his staff. We’ll have to wait and see if his absence is cause for concern.

The assistance of the academy

Chelsea’s development squad members Carney Chukwuemeka, Bashir Humphreys, Teddy Sharman-Lowe, Lewis Hall, Zak Sturge, Leo Castledine, and Samuel Rak-Sakyi may have participated in various England squads, and the Blues may have had players with the Three Lions under-17 squad in the form of Josh Acheampong, Somto Boniface, Ted Curd, Kiano Dyer, Tyrique George, and Michael

Given that they made up the majority of his first team training participants at the beginning of the week, Potter would have had a good opportunity to form an impression on many members of Chelsea’s youth squad. Pictured participating in exercises and games were Charlie Webster, Omari Hutchinson, Dion Rankine, Dylan Williams, Ben Elliott, Alfie Gilchrist, Mason Burstow, Jude Soonsup-Bell, Brodi Hughes, Derrick Abu, and Josh Brooking.

Harvey Vale, Jude Soonsup-Bell, Xavier Simons, and Lewis Hall all had opportunities to play over the Christmas break of the previous semester, and they all made their debuts in cup tournaments. Although Premier League and Champions League games will dominate October, there may still be options to fill out training or teams moving ahead as the squad is handled because of the crazy schedule.

Professional Loftus-Cheek

It will be hard to extrapolate too much from this week’s training, but Ruben Loftus-Cheek can’t have hurt his chances of winning Potter over. Although he didn’t play against Salzburg before the break, the midfielder has arguably been one of the Blues’ season’s high points thus far. He will want to receive his opportunity against previous loan team Crystal Palace now that he has more time to train with Potter.

After taking a few light touches with the ball after receiving it from Elliott, Loftus-Cheek firmly responded to the cry to “finish it” coming from the edge of the box. Bettinelli was powerless to halt the powerful blow. Leaving a good impression.

Aubameyang will undoubtedly want to demonstrate his level of fitness to improve on his first start under Potter, and Chalobah will want to demonstrate his skills and ability to follow Potter’s instructions to try and replace Cesar Azpilicueta in the starting lineup while fending off competition from Fofana and Koulibaly.