Premier League 2018/19: Chelsea vs Leicester City

The Premier League had an interesting match day at the weekend since, besides Manchester City’s unexpected loss, Chelsea also got defeated by Claude Puel’s Leicester City. In this tactical analysis, we will look at how they were able to beat Chelsea. 

Both sides operated with a 4-3-3 formation, however, the guests played in a more defensive style, thus in defending it was a 4-5-1/5-4-1 system. Of course, with this manner, they emphasised on counter-attacks which succeeded in the end, since they scored from a counter-attack and kept a clean sheet, which is a rare thing at Stamford Bridge. Only one time in this season, Chelsea were not able to score in their home ground. Everton also used a 5-4-1 structure in defence when they journeyed to West London.

Blocking the centre

Leicester’s plan focussed on a strong presence in the middle which could deny the progress through there. Both wingers positioned around the middle while the centre-midfielders also stayed in a narrow shape.

Why was this so important for Leicester?

Sarri took some changes in the recent matches which left all the strikers on the bench and lined up with Hazard as a false 9 between the two wingers, Willian and Pedro. With these changes, Sarri gained a better connection between the players and even more flexibility. For example, one of the most important patterns was based on Hazard’s movement.

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