Tim Sherwood says he isn’t sure you can now consider Graham Potter’s Chelsea as a ‘big six’ side after they were beaten by Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
Tottenham fans have watched their team produce abject performance after abject performance against Chelsea, but it was a different story yesterday, with Harry Kane and Oliver Skipp getting on the scoresheet.
Not only did Antonio Conte’s men deserve the three points, but the clean sheet also because this expensively-assembled Chelsea team is being outscored by the likes of Harry Kane, Erling Haaland, Ollie Watkins and Marcus Rashford in 2023.
Last season, whether it was the League Cup or the Premier League, Chelsea watched Thomas Tuchel produce masterstroke after masterstroke against their neighbours.
But now Spurs hold a 14-point lead over Potter’s men, who are hovering ten points above the drop zone ahead of their clash against Leeds United at the weekend.
Nonetheless, Sherwood couldn’t help but have a dig at Chelsea when talking about his previous criticisms of Tottenham not being able to win the ‘big games’, as he told Premier League Productions (26/02/23 at 3:50 pm).
“I always point the finger at Tottenham by saying ‘they don’t win the big games, against the big six’,” said Sherwood. “I am not sure we can consider Chelsea as a big six team, at this moment in time.
“They had the magnificent result against Manchester City, with Chelsea coming here. All the fans really were hoping, more than expecting to win and they thought they deserved it. Chelsea were so bad.
“I think he is under serious pressure now Potter. They want to give him time. We all want time as managers and they will turn it around. You spend that type of money, then I think you will turn it around, in the end.
“This is a ground where Chelsea always wins and they didn’t look like winning from moment one. I thought they were very, very poor.”
CAN POTTER FIND HIS MAGIC?
There is only so much you can back a manager and Graham Potter is in a situation where he could be kicked out of the door by Todd Boehly anytime soon.
The ironic thing here is that Potter, with his possession-based style of play, was more suited to being a Tottenham manager than Chelsea, who under previous ownership have only appointed the elite and pushed them out as soon as standards drop.
Tottenham, with Daniel Levy running the ship, are more methodical in their approach, they prefer to build slowly, rather than rush out of the blocks.
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