LONDON (Reuters) – Chelsea manager Graham Potter said “the hits keep coming” after his new signing Joao Felix was sent off on his Premier League debut as the Blues lost 2-1 at Fulham on Thursday.
The Portugal forward, who joined Chelsea on Wednesday from Atletico Madrid until the end of the season, was shown a red card in the 58th minute of the west London derby for a reckless tackle on Fulham defender Kenny Tete while the score was 1-1.
Felix, whose loan signing cost Chelsea a reported nine million pounds, is now set to miss the next three league matches against Crystal Palace, Liverpool and Fulham.
Chelsea also lost midfielder Denis Zakaria to injury in the second half.
“It was another blow, the hits keep coming, I thought he (Felix) was very good up until then,” Potter told BT Sport.
“It was a forward’s tackle and I understand why he was sent off. It sums up where we are at the moment – everything that can go wrong, is going wrong.”
Carlos Vinicius scored the decisive goal in the second half after Chelsea defender Kalidou Koulibaly had cancelled out Willian’s opening strike.
Chelsea have lost six of their last eight matches in all competitions and the defeat at Fulham dealt another blow to their chances of qualifying for the Champions League, leaving them 10th in the Premier League standings and 10 points adrift of fourth-placed Manchester United, who have a game in hand.
“It is at the moment it’s tough for sure I feel for the supporters and everyone connected with the club,” added Potter, who left Brighton & Hove Albion in September to take charge of Chelsea after Thomas Tuchel, who led the team to the Champions League title in 2021, was sacked by new owner Todd Boehly.
“There were positives there, just missed chances final bits. There’s no other solution, keep focused go to the next match and try to get three points,” Potter said.
(Reporting by Richard Martin, editing by Ed Osmond)
