Two of his newest players, Enzo Fernandez and Joao Felix, combined for the latter to give the Blues an early lead against West Ham United but what our head coach indicated was a preventable equaliser denied us all three points.

It could have been different had a late penalty shout for handball against Hammers midfielder Tomas Soucek been given. Chelsea also had two and the Hammers one goal ruled out for offside.

• Read our full match report

• Goalscorer Joao Felix on camera post-match

The post-match discussion began with the decision not award the Blues the penalty.

‘It looked quite a handball to me, I didn’t know Tomas could get down and save like that. It was a good save. You need your goalkeeper sometimes to get you points,’ Potter observed wryly.

‘I only saw it briefly and it looks like one of those where if it was given, it would not be overturned but it has not been given. Sometimes they go for you, sometimes they don’t and you just have to accept that.

‘You can’t wait for luck to turn, we have to keep working,’ our head coach continued.

‘In the first half we were positive, we started the game well, scored a good goal and had more opportunities as well, and had good attacking intent.

‘We lost a little bit of control for 10 minutes and then conceded, which we could have done better with, and that changes the dynamic of the game. We were rocked a little bit by the goal.

‘But overall I thought the first half was quite positive. The second half was more a reflection of where we are as a group in terms of players coming up to speed, returning from injury and players adapting to the Premier League. That is the work in progress but it was a step forward from the previous game.

‘You could see the potential of the team today but you can also see what the work is, which is getting Reece James, Ben Chilwell and Ruben Loftus-Cheek up to speed, and adapting the new players into the Premier League.

‘But I can completely understand that people are frustrated if we don’t win.’

Potter named five of the new players in the team line-up, which meant some of the previous regulars missed out. He reflected on managing the reshaped squad.

‘It is a challenge but it is my job,’ he said. ‘It is exciting, it tests you because you have to make sure you communicate properly and manage the environment as otherwise, it can go not very positively - but it has been a really good training week.

‘The spirit in the group is really good, there is big, healthy competition for places and we need that, and then you have to have honest conversations and respect that players will be disappointed. These are top professionals and they handle themselves well.’