Chelsea owners were ‘alarmed’ by Graham Potter picking Hakim Ziyech and other decisions during Tottenham defeat

’s decision to start Hakim Ziyech during February’s defeat to Tottenham ‘set alarm bells ringing’ among the hierarchy, according to reports.

Chelsea’s hugely underwhelming form finally culminated in the .

Potter only spent but Chelsea’s owners after the Blues slipped into the bottom-half of the Premier League following Saturday’s 2-0 defeat at home to .

Despite only winning 12 of his 31 games in charge of Chelsea, the club’s owners continued to back Potter through the struggles.

But the say Chelsea co-owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali have had doubts about Potter for some time and were left particularly concerned after the 2-0 defeat to London rivals Tottenham in February.

It is claimed Potter’s decision to start Morocco winger Ziyech – who Chelsea tried to offload in January – caused concern among the top brass at Stamford Bridge.

Ziyech was in Paris on transfer deadline day to complete a loan move to French giants PSG but the move dramatically fell through due to paperwork issues.

Given the club’s willingness to offload Ziyech, the 30-year-old was expected to play a limited role for the rest of the season before finally leaving west London in the summer.

But Potter opted to start Ziyech against Spurs and then replaced him with defensive midfielder Denis Zakaria with half an hour remaining as Chelsea chased an equaliser.

Potter’s tactics against Aston Villa were and the Chelsea owners were also reportedly surprised by some of the decision-making.

‘I think tactically Graham Potter has to do more, if I’m being totally honest,’ Richards said on BBC’s Match of the Day.

‘We saw Reece James playing in a back-three, Ruben Loftus-Cheek was playing at right wing-back. Chelsea had so many opportunities down the right-hand side and Reece James should have been there.

‘Benoit Badiashile was on the bench and they’ve got Romelu Lukaku at Inter Milan. The whole situation needs sorting ASAP.’

Chelsea’s defeat to Aston Villa left the Blues 11th in the Premier League with 10 games remaining.

Former Brighton star Bruno will now act as interim head coach and take charge of Chelsea’s Premier League clash with Liverpool on Tuesday night.

Chelsea have little to play for in the Premier League but will soon turn their attentions to a Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid.

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