Chris Sutton explains his prediction for Chelsea FC v Bournemouth

Chris Sutton is tipping Chelsea FC to ease back to winning ways in the Premier League with a 2-0 victory over Bournemouth at home on Tuesday.

New Blues boss Graham Potter has found himself under pressure at Stamford Bridge in recent weeks after a run of poor form resulted in three straight defeats in the English top flight.

Chelsea FC will be eager to get their bid to finish in the top four back on track when they welcome Bournemouth to south west London on Tuesday evening – the Blues are currently eight points adrift of fourth-placed Tottenham but do have a game in hand over their local rivals.

Former Chelsea FC star Sutton feels that Potter is the right man to lead the Blues forward but he concedes that the new manager will need some time to settle into life as the boss at Stamford Bridge.

Nevertheless, Sutton is expecting to see Chelsea FC bounce back from their recent poor run of form with a victory in front of their home fans on 27 December.

Writing in his column for BBC Sport, Sutton said: “Chelsea are desperate for a win after going six domestic games without a victory, and losing the past four of them, so the pressure is really on Blues boss Graham Potter here.

“I am a strong believer that Potter just needs time to get things right at Stamford Bridge, but they have had issues with scoring goals since he took charge and they will need to finish their chances against Bournemouth, as well as create them.

“I do expect Chelsea to win this game but it is going to be interesting to find out what happens with the Cherries next too.

“Gary O’Neil’s success as their caretaker boss meant he definitely deserved to be appointed on a permanent basis but, to keep the job, he needs to match those results now.”

Chelsea FC will be without the injured N’Golo Kante for Tuesday’s game, and Potter was asked for an update on the France international’s recovery at his pre-match news conference last week.

Kante underwent surgery after suffering a hamstring injury and Potter revealed that the France international will not be available again until late February or early March.

“He’ll be end of Feb, start of March,” Potter said when asked about Kante. “It’s a surgery so it’s a minimum period of four months.

“My focus is to help him get back fit as soon as possible, and getting him back on the pitch in the right way, because we haven’t seen him.”

Potter also revealed that full-back Reece James is back available for selection after recovering from a knee injury which caused him to miss the World Cup.

“Reece is back in, he’s been training with us,” said Potter. “He completed 65 minutes in the week.

“We’re still without Ruben [Loftus-Cheek], still without Ben Chilwell, obviously Kante. [Edouard] Mendy has had a couple of days training with us.”