Graham Potter, the manager of Chelsea, has claimed that defender Marc Cucurella has been used as a scapegoat for the team's difficulties this year.

Potter feels that Chelsea's unsuccessful season is being unfairly blamed on Cucurella.

Cucurella moved from Brighton to Chelsea during the summer transfer window, but he has had trouble building on his outstanding performance at Stamford Bridge last year.

Recent Chelsea games against West Ham United and Borussia Dortmund drew criticism for Cucurella.

“The results that we’re having and where we are in the table, unfortunately, somebody will be getting the brunt of the criticism,” Potter told a press conference ahead of Chelsea’s Premier League tie with Southampton on Saturday.

“That is the pattern. And whether it is fair or not, it doesn’t matter.

“As professionals, we have to accept that and work as hard as we can to change opinions." That is what it is; that is the challenge for us. I’m not going to argue against it. Marc [Cucurella] is a big boy; he’s an adult, he has kids, and he knows the situation. We have to help him change his perspective on this.

“There is always frustration, and we've got to accept the frustration with me, the frustration with players; it is part of what we have to accept in this position."

“There is no magic formula." It is not easy to play with that type of pressure. All he can do is keep doing well in training, keep working hard, and wait for the right opportunity.

“We aren’t losing because of one individual, one person. "We are a team, and we need to stick together.”