The Hammers’ defender Tomas Soucek stopped a Conor Gallagher shot with his arm but despite the combination of the on-field referee and the VAR letting the incident go unpunished, Potter would not be drawn into lambasting the match officials after the final whistle.

Instead he chose to wryly describe it as a good save (‘You need your goalkeeper sometimes to get you points.’) and acknowledged that some decisions go for you and some do not.

That measured response should have been replaced by rage according to some observers, who compared Potter’s manner with how some other managers would have dealt with a similar scenario when performing post-match media duties.

It has led to Potter being asked directly if anything makes him angry.

‘I'm careful not to get into discussions through the media,’ he explained.

‘Of course I get angry, I’m a human being just like everyone. It's just that I choose to conduct myself the way that I think is the right way to conduct myself on the side.

‘The same media talking about me being more angry are then running stories about problems with referees at grassroots football. They don’t see the connection,’ he pointed out. Indeed just this week there have been reports of hundreds of referees at that level of the game saying they fear for their safety due to the abuse they receive.

‘That's not to say that we don't all lose our temper, because we do, because it's an emotional thing,’ Potter continued.

‘At the same time I think I have a responsibility to myself, to Chelsea and to the game to act in the way that I think is the right thing for me. Not for anybody else. But for me.

‘If anyone thinks that you can start a coaching career in the ninth tier of English football, in the Northern Counties Division One, and get to this point now with Chelsea in the Champions League without getting angry, I would suggest they don't know anything about anything.’