Chelsea fires manager Graham Potter after club slips to 11th in EPL standings

Chelsea have officially parted ways with manager Graham Potter, who has failed to steer the club in a positive direction during his tenure. Chelsea announced the move Sunday afternoon, one day after the Blues fell to Aston Villa 2-0 to slip to 11th in the English Premier League standings. The club is now looking for its third manager this season.

Despite Chelsea’s progression to the quarterfinal round of this year’s Champions League, Potter has not been able to get things done at the domestic level. Ironically, former Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel was able to take advantage of a similar situation at Bayern Munich to replace Julian Nagelsmann there. Potter has agreed to facilitate some sort of transition, but there’s bound to be some bumps in the road ahead for the players with no clear manager in the fold.

Chelsea are 11 points behind Tottenham, who currently occupy the fifth spot. That would be the last European competition spot, something Chelsea will be striving for given the investment they’ve had in the January transfer window. The new manager is going to have to make these expensive signings work.