One win in five games - The tactical fault that explains Chelsea's slump in the Premier League
Stefan Bienkowski
- 18 Jan 2022 16:31 CST
- 4 min read
Chelsea’s hopes of challenging for the Premier League title were entirely extinguished on Tuesday night when an impressive Brighton side held Thomas Tuchel’s side to a 1-1 draw.
The result now means that the Blues sit a massive 12 points behind Pep Guardiola’s reigning champions, who themselves have a game in hand.
However, Tuesday’s two points dropped were little more than the final nail in the coffin of a league campaign that began to fall apart some time ago.
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Indeed, over the course of their last 10 league games, Chelsea have only won three matches and dropped no less than 20 points. Man City, in stark contrast, went on to win all ten of their games.
Yet it has perhaps been the last five matches in particular, in which Chelsea have managed just one victory, that Tuchel’s side have truly fallen apart. And when we dig into the stats and team selections we can perhaps see a pattern emerge.
Since the start of November Chelsea have won one more PL game than Norwich and eight fewer than Man City
— Duncan Alexander (@oilysailor) January 18, 2022
Tuchel’s wing-back problem
Is no great surprise that Chelsea are overly reliant on their wing-backs from one game to the next.
Tuchel tends to play with a more defensive and industrious midfield and his strikers are hardly breaking goal scoring records in England or in the Champions League. As such, the team’s creativity often comes from the wings.
As such, it will come as no great surprise to any Chelsea fans that this current run of poor form also happens to coincide with Tuchel losing not one but two of his most trusted wing-backs. And as a result, Chelsea have struggled to create chances, score goals and ultimately win games.
Indeed, the first blow came in late November, when Ben Chilwell picked up a horrid injury that ruled him out for the remainder of the season. Which meant Chelsea lost a left-back that had bagged eight goals and assists last season and a further four in six games this season, to Marcos Alonso. Who, in return, has managed just one assist in Chelsea’s last 11 league games.
I’d quite like Reece James & Ben Chilwell back. Pleaseeee 😢 #CFC
— Olivia Buzaglo (@OliviaBuzaglo) January 18, 2022
The penny then dropped in late December, when Reece James picked up a nasty hamstring injury, which then forced Tuchel to shuffle 32-year-old make-shift central defender Cesar Azpilicueta back to the right-back position.
Although the Spaniard is a former full-back and still defensively solid, his attacking contributions are few and far between. Which is why he’s only managed two assists from the wing-back role in 15 games this season. In comparison, Reece was sitting on five goals and six assists for Chelsea in just 23 games before his injury.
These past few weeks have seen Chelsea fans turn their frustration on strikers, defenders and even their own manager, but in truth the downturn in form is down to the club losing two of its most important players and having no viable back up to hand in the wing-back positions.
