You have to rewind to the Newcastle away fixture on the eve of the World Cup to find the last time we had deployed a back three prior to the past seven days.

In the interim the head coach, who admitted the weight has been lifted off his shoulders in some ways after those two wins, preferred a 4-2-3-1 shape. For now, though, he looks set to continue with what served us so well against Leeds and Borussia Dortmund.

‘Even in those games we’ve had different back threes, with Benoit [Badiashile] playing against Leeds and Marc [Cucurella] coming in against Dortmund,’ he pointed out today.

‘Thiago getting injured against Tottenham meant we had to adjust things, and at the moment it’s suiting us well.

‘As much as everyone is focusing on the other end and rightly so, because we haven’t scored as many goals as we would like, defensively we are up there with one of the best teams in the league. That’s something to be positive about, but clearly we need to get the other bit right as well. Consistency helps.’

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Managing Cucurella

Potter has a big decision in defence tomorrow. Does he stick with Cucurella, who was so impressive against Dortmund, or revert to Benoit Badiashile, who has scarcely put a foot wrong since arriving from Monaco?

Cucurella hasn’t played in the league since the draw at West Ham a month ago, and Potter acknowledged it hasn’t always been easy for the Spaniard this season.

‘It got a little bit tricky, but at the same time we tried to shield him and wait for the right time to put him in.

‘I know how good he is. With Benoit out the game in the Champions League was a good opportunity to show his quality, and I’m delighted he did.’

Potter on Kovacic

Another player who impressed against Dortmund was Mateo Kovacic, himself only returning to the team after a spell out with injury and illness. Potter was asked what he brings to the team.

‘He’s been the captain in both games, that tells you how influential he is.

‘He’s a fantastic guy, I really like him. Determined, character, courage to take the ball in tight situations, he’s fantastic.

‘You can see what he’s achieved in his career for his national team, and for us at Chelsea. He’s an important player for us.’

Young supporter Charlie Butcher is a guest of ours at Cobham today, in partnership with Make-A-Wish Foundation, and the final question of Potter’s press conference went to him. He asked Potter what he said to his team to motivate them at half-time.

‘Good question! It depends how the game is going, whether they need a kick up the backside or do they just need information, but essentially it is to try to help them, to work out what we’ve done quite well in the game and what we need to improve.

‘If we can improve, how we can improve, and try and convince them that if we do that, we can win the game. That’s a summary.’