Chelsea 1-0 Leeds : Wesley Fofana on fire – it might have saved Graham Potter’s job

With the pressure on Potter to deliver at home against Leeds, Chelsea barely scraped through to record a one-nil victory at Stamford Bridge.

Here’s 3 main talking points from today..

Back three could cause Potter a headache ahead of the Dortmund tie.

A makeshift defence to make up for the absences of Thiago Silva and Recce James, Potter decided to deploy a back three.

Koulibaly starting in the middle of the defence led the backline with an astute defensive performance as he closed down Leeds’ attackers down the middle and mopped up brilliantly when either center-backs pressed high.

Badiashile on the left hand side of the defence improved his growing reputation with another solid performance as he recovered the ball 13 times, completed 3/4 long balls while making 9 passes into the final third.

The hero of the day though was Wesley Fofana who showed signs of recapturing his form with a dominant display.

Starting off at RCB, Fofana had the highest pass accuracy of any player that started with 96%, won 5/5 aerial duels, passed into the final third 11 times while also scoring the all important winner from a Ben Chilwell corner kick.

A good day at the office all round for the defensive line here at home in what should breed confidence going into a crucial UCL tie against Dortmund on Tuesday.

The real question is, back three or back four against Dortmund on Tuesday?

Raheem Sterling shines at right wing :

An attack that has seen a rebuild worth over 70 million pounds with three extra additions during the winter transfer window (Felix, Mudryk and Datro), Raheem Sterling still remains Chelsea’s most potent weapon up top.

Coming off an injury lay-off, Sterling came on to change the game against Southampton and here against Leeds, Chelsea’s best pieces of play came through himself and Chilwell.

Sterling was Chelsea’s best chance creator with 1 big chance created, 4/4 total chances created, and 8/10 ground duels won. Raheem showed blistering pace and renewed confidence, constantly taking on Junior Firpo.

Considering the recent struggles of the other attacking options, Potter will be hoping Sterling keeps his good form and hopefully begins to add goals and assists to his present form.

Felix’s struggles persist :

Since his blistering debut that got many people fantasizing about what more to come from him, Joao Felix has struggled to meet up with expectations at Chelsea.

A decent first half showing against West Ham and Dortmund have been followed by rather dull and disappointing showings against Southampton, Tottenham, and now Leeds.

Playing as an inside forward here in Potter’s 3-4-2-1, Felix struggled massively to have the sort of influence many expected him to have as he often took too many touches and barely got past his marker (1/6 dribbles completed) and having won only 2 of his 9 ground duels and completing none of his 3 crosses, Felix’s struggles were very evident in this match.

His shot off the crossbar was a hard take though and could have given him some more confidence if it didn’t rattle the woodwork.

Hopefully, he gets back to his best form and finds his feet again.

Man of The Match – Fofana, 8/10.

Next up for Chelsea is the return leg of the Champions League tie against Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday night at Stamford Bridge.