Graham Potter said Friday that Chelsea’s Champions League last-16 triumph over Borussia Dortmund had lifted a weight off his shoulders following a miserable run of results.
The Blues won 2-0 at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday to overturn a 1-0 first-leg deficit and advance to the quarter-finals.
The victory against the Bundesliga high-fliers, which followed a rare Premier League win against Leeds, secured Chelsea’s first back-to-back successes since October.
“Has the weight been lifted off my shoulders? Yes, in some ways,” said Chelsea manager Potter, whose team have won just two of their past 10 Premier League matches.
“I’m not getting carried away, it’s just two wins so we have to focus on Leicester. The boys have been in a good place, good spirit, they’ve stuck together in a bad time which is good, there’s a lot to say about that.”
Chelsea’s supporters voiced their relief at Stamford Bridge at full-time on Tuesday.
“It’s our job to produce games and produce results,” said Potter. “I think that the performance was a positive one and I think that they appreciated that.
“I think generally when that’s the case (winning) they get behind the team and support the team so I have nothing to say about how we’ve been treated with the supporters — they’ve been great, fantastic.”
Chelsea face Leicester at the King Power Stadium on Saturday as they seek to prove they have finally turned the corner.
The 10th-placed team are chasing their first away victory in the Premier League for five months against a Leicester team who have lost their past three league games.
But Potter warned that Leicester’s results had been worse than their performances.
“They have still got some really, really good players,” he said. “I have huge respect for Brendan (Rodgers), for what he’s done there. He’s a top coach and a top person so looking forward to seeing him and it will be a tough game.”
Chelsea have struggled in front of goal but boast the joint second-best defensive record in the Premier League.
“I think at the moment it’s suiting us quite well (back-three formation) and it’s working,” said Potter.
“Defensively as much as everyone’s focused on the other end and rightly so because we haven’t scored as many goals as we’d like — defensively we’re up there as one of the best teams in the Premier League.”
