Graham Potter explains Mason Mount snub against Aston Villa amid uncertain future

Chelsea manager Graham Potter has suggested that a lack of recent training after an injury was responsible for Mason Mount being left an unused substitute in Saturday’s Premier League defeat to Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge.

The result saw Villa leapfrog the Blues, who are now languishing in the bottom half of the table. Potter’s team have won just three of 13 league games played in 2023 and are on course for a lowest league finish since 1995/96 (also 11th) if things don’t improve.

Having gone behind to a first half goal from Ollie Watkins and then seeing John McGinn double Villa’s lead 11 minutes after the interval, Chelsea fans would have expected Mount to be a player who could come on and potentially make a difference.

Instead, Potter responded to Villa’s second goal by throwing on N’Golo Kante and Noni Madueke, before switching things up with Christian Pulisic and Conor Gallagher later on.

There was no opportunity for Mount, who was back in the squad for the first time since February after missing all four games plus international duty in March with a bruised pelvis.

“With Mason, I just felt we were there in the game,” Potter reflected. “We made some attacking subs and wanted to see how it all landed. Mason is coming back and only had a couple of days training.”