Chelsea boss Graham Potter prepared to upset stars and rotate his squad after victory over Wolves

Graham Potter has quickly discovered what it’s like to manage a large team of big names, and has proven that he is willing to be unpopular if that means sharing the burden, as he proved with wholesale changes on Saturday.

Potter made seven changes from the Chelsea side who beat AC Milan 3-0 on Wednesday to achieve the same result against Wolves, with recalled players Kai Havertz, Christian Pulisic and Armando Broja scoring the goals.

Potter outlined the need to rest players who have hitherto always been present under his supervision, and was pleased that the gamble to rotate his team paid off.

Pierre Emerick Aubameyang had rest after scoring two goals in his last two games, but his replacement Havertz headed the net.

“We felt like giving him (Aubameyang) a breather. Attackers rely on rhythm, but he didn’t play that much before he got here,” said Potter, who rested Raheem Sterling for the same reason. “Raheem has had a lot of football, so he needed a breather. Thiago Silva had a bad cold at the start of the week, Ben Chilwell is recovering from an ACL injury so it wouldn’t be smart to play him three times in a week especially if we have Marc Cucurella

“Reece James had a dead leg that didn’t fully recover, so we had to give him some extra time.

Mateo Kovacic has had a knee problem and we know we can use the group in terms of Jorginho and Ruben (Loftus-Cheek).

“We have a good group here and we can’t make it with eleven players. We can’t play against them until they fall or get hurt.”

But he knowingly told reporters: “If we had failed today, you’d wonder why we didn’t play Aubameyang!”

When asked whether he will continue to rotate, Potter added: “We will assess each situation on its own merits. When you play three games a week, you have to make a decision about new players, about players who are determined and desperate to play. We have a good group here, with a lot of competition and you need that, people who fight for each other, support each other but are ready to help.

“I think you saw that today. Kai, Christian and Armando scored, so that’s nice.

“My experience with professional footballers at every level is that they want to play football. You have to respect that, but at the same time, part of the deal that comes to a club like this is that you have to fight to play in the team, you have to be ready to help the team and play your part.

And all you can do as a head coach is explain the reasons why and admit as a coach that you are not always right, but we have a strong group and a strong collective, and without that it would be difficult to achieve anything.”