After his Chelsea side defeated Dinamo Zagreb 2-1 in the Champions League, Graham Potter reflected on a night of highs and lows, with an impressive debut in midfield, an eye-catching performance in attack but a worrying injury on the wing.
The Blues ended our Champions League group stage on a high with a 2-1 victory in our last game of the round, extending Potter's unbeaten run in the competition to five matches.
We recovered well from the setback of conceding an early goal to come from behind and win, as Raheem Sterling equalised with a well-taken effort and then Denis Zakaria marked his Chelsea debut by scoring the winner before half-time.
Potter was pleased for his player making such a good start to his Blues career, and confirmed the injury which brought it to an early end in the second half is nothing to worry about.
'Denis just got a kick, it was a contact, so he was fine, no problems with him,' said Potter.
'Before the game I told him to be himself and I thought he did that well. He showed his quality, won the ball back, helped with our attacking play. Obviously to score was fantastic, you saw the quality that he has.
'We see it in training as well, he can hit the ball. So I think it was a nice goal for him, a nice goal for the team. It was an important goal for us, so I’m happy for him that he contributed to the team performance and also to score. It’s nice.
'As you would imagine, he’s been frustrated and disappointed when he isn’t playing. That’s the life of a player, but he’s handled himself really well. He’s kept himself fit, trained really hard, supported the team, supported his team-mates in a really good way.
'When you do that you give yourself a chance to perform when you’re given an opportunity at this club. So credit to him and you could see everyone was so happy for him. It’s great for him, it’s a great story for the whole group I think.'
However, what looked like a potential hamstring injury for Ben Chilwell late on is of more concern...
'It’s not great. Obviously when he pulls up like that it’s a concern, so we need to scan it, but it’s not positive at the moment.
'It’s a blow for us on an otherwise positive evening, I think. It’s a blow, to see him pull up like that is not a great sight. So fingers crossed that when we get it scanned it isn’t as bad, as it can be not severe. We have our fingers crossed at the moment, but obviously we’re disappointed.
'I think you’d have to say there are worries about him being okay for the World Cup. I don’t want to add any more than that, but obviously when a player pulls up like he did and he felt it, it’s never positive. He just felt something as he was setting off and it’s not nice.'
Potter also responded to questions around Sterling's form and role in the team...
'We’ve tried to play him as high and wide as we can. I know there’s a lot of talk about him being a wing-back. I played as a wing-back and I can tell you Raheem’s never been asked to play as a wing-back. He’s never been asked to defend in the back five or even a back four. His responsibilities have always been against the full-back.
'Obviously having the back four behind him probably helped get him a little bit higher, a little bit wider and it was nice for him to score. He’s been working hard for the team. As I’ve said before, the team needs to function well for the individuals to do well, so I’m really pleased for him to get his goal today.
'We’ve just had an incredibly challenging October. We were in a situation where had to get results, we lost key players in terms of Wesley Fofana and Reece James and there’s always a little bit of stability that’s affected when that happens. It’s not always straightforward to find the right solutions, but we’ve had one defeat in 11 games.
'That’s the life we have and everyone has to try their best. I’m happy for Raheem that he scored. No-ones doubting his quality here, that’s for sure.'