Premier League table from Graham Potter's time at Chelsea

Graham Potter is nothing if not creative.

As manager of Swedish side Ostersund, Potter recognised that Curtis Edwards became detrimentally fixated on his mistakes. So he came to a conclusion few other English coaches would opt for, lending his midfielder his personal copy of the Dalai Lama's 'Ancient Wisdom, Modern World'.

After a dreary six months in charge of Chelsea was brought to a close on Sunday night, Potter may need to flick through that book himself during his considerably less cluttered days.

While Potter tries to avoid reflecting on the mistakes he made, let's take a look at how those erroneous decisions impacted Chelsea's performance compared to the rest of the Premier League.

Premier League table from Graham Potter's time at Chelsea

Position	Team	Games	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Points
1	Arsenal	23	18	3	2	56	20	36	57
2	Man City	22	16	2	4	51	20	31	50
3	Newcastle	21	12	7	2	34	13	21	43
4	Man Utd	21	11	5	5	33	29	4	38
5	Aston Villa	22	11	4	7	32	29	3	37
6	Tottenham	22	11	2	9	40	35	5	35
7	Brentford	22	8	10	4	31	28	3	34
8	Liverpool	21	10	3	8	33	27	6	33
9	Fulham	22	9	4	9	30	30	0	31
10	Brighton	20	8	6	6	38	29	9	30
11	Chelsea	22	7	7	8	21	21	0	28
12	Leicester	22	7	3	12	31	33	-2	24
13	Crystal Palace	23	6	6	11	17	30	-13	24
14	West Ham	21	6	5	10	22	26	-4	23
15	Nottingham Forest	22	5	8	9	19	36	-17	23
16	Everton	22	6	4	12	18	34	-16	22
17	Wolves	23	6	4	13	20	38	-18	22
18	Bournemouth	22	5	5	12	22	37	-15	20
19	Leeds	22	4	6	12	26	38	-12	18
20	Southampton	23	4	4	15	16	37	-21	16

Potter was thrust into a role he would later describe as 'the hardest job in football' on 8 September. Six games of the season had already taken place, with Chelsea in sixth. Potter skulked out of the backdoor six months later as the Blues resided in the depths of 11th, their lowest position at this stage of the season since the ruinous 2015/16 campaign.

Taking into account Premier League games played during Potter's tenure, Chelsea rank a disappointing 11th. In this time, the Blues spent almost £300m on transfers during the January window - more than clubs in the Spanish, French, Italian and German top flights combined.

Brighton, the club that Potter left in the lurch last autumn, remain above Chelsea in the actual table as well as the standings during Potter's reign. Under Roberto De Zerbi - who has been quick to credit the groundwork laid by Potter - the Seagulls have taken 30 points, two more than Chelsea despite playing two fewer matches.

London rivals Arsenal have plundered the most points (57) and goals (56) in this period. Chelsea have been able to muster just 21 goals in 22 games under Potter, a tally which only five clubs in the division can't match. Potter is the only permanent manager in Chelsea's Premier League history to oversee a tenure where the team have averaged less than one goal per game.

At the other end, Chelsea only conceded 21 goals under Potter. Only the top three teams during the 47-year-old's reign - Newcastle (13), Arsenal (20) and Manchester City (20) - shipped fewer.

Manchester United round out the top four while Aston Villa find themselves in the heady heights of fifth. Steven Gerrard clung onto his seat in the midlands until late October but the form Unai Emery has been able to inspire is borne out in the above table. Fittingly, Emery delivered the final nail in Potter's coffin, overseeing a 2-0 victory for Villa at Stamford Bridge on Saturday evening which nudged the Blues into the bottom half of the table.

Since Potter was appointed in September, Southampton have had three different managers at the helm. Yet, the combination of Ralph Hasenhuttl, Nathan Jones and Ruben Selles have only conspired to win the Saints 16 points from 23 games, comfortably the lowest tally in the division.

Potter only ever made two Premier League starts in his playing career, both for Southampton, both of which ended in defeat.

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