Parlour believes the Chelsea-Arsenal rivalry does not need Graham Potter praising the rival club.
Speaking on Talksport Radio (h/t Metro), former Arsenal midfielder Ray Parlour has slammed Chelsea boss Graham Potter for praising Arsenal after Sunday’s game.
Chelsea lost to Mikel Arteta’s side 1-0 at Stamford Bridge at the weekend. Speaking to the media after the match, Potter was complimentary of Arsenal, classed them as the ‘better team’ and ended by claiming that Mikel Arteta’s men deserved the win.
Anyone who watched that game would probably agree with what Chelsea’s boss said. The home side were disappointing in everything they did on the pitch. They were outplayed in every facet of the game.
But, Parlour thinks that is too much respect here as he believes the Chelsea-Arsenal rivalry does not need Potter praising the rival club. Here’s what he exactly said (h/t Metro):
“I listened to the interview after, all he did was talk about Arsenal and how good they are. He can’t do that. You’re at Chelsea. This is Arsenal vs Chelsea. Chelsea have won multiple trophies over the years, the standards are so high.“That’s the problem you’ve got. You can’t be coming out and praising the other team. They didn’t lay a glove on Arsenal.”
As much as the ego side of things needs to take over to keep the flame alive of this London rivalry, Potter is just trying to be honest about his team’s situation and he does not see any harm in praising the opposition.
The World Cup is perhaps the right time for Potter to reassess his first two months in charge of Chelsea, try and see what has been working for the team and devise new methods to add goals to this team. They have been struggling to do the latter with consistency for some time now.
See More:
- Chelsea block Omari Hutchinson’s Jamaica call-up ahead of EFL Cup tie
- Chelsea defender Marc Cucurella struggling with pressure
