Premier League 2019/20: Wolverhampton vs Chelsea – Tactical Analysis

Matchday five of the Premier League had brought us some interesting matchups with the involvement of the big names. Two clubs that faced each other on Saturday evening were Wolverhampton Wanderers and Chelsea. Last season, Wolves were one of the dark horses of the league with their attractive style of play, they eventually finished seventh in the league and qualified for the third qualifying round of the Europa League.

This season, they have advanced further in the competition but faced a struggling start to the season. Nuno Espiríto Santo’s side wanted to turn things around when they welcomed Chelsea to the Molineux. On the other hand, Frank Lampard and his players have had a decent start, securing one win and two draws after five matches. With high confidence among the squad, they managed to continue their unbeaten streak up to four matches with a thrilling 5-2 win over Wolves.

This tactical analysis will provide an analysis of the goal-thrilling match between Wolverhampton and Chelsea. Meanwhile, using statistics, we will analyse what went wrong for Wolves’ tactics against Chelsea’s tactics.

Lineups

The home side entered this match with their familiar formation of a 3-5-2. They were left without Willy Boly as the French defender was sent off in their loss against Everton before the international break. Romain Saïss was chosen to replace his role and he completed the back-three that consisted of Jesús Vallejo and captain Conor Coady. Matt Doherty was also available for this match but only made the bench as his position was occupied by Adama Traoré.

Lampard made a few adjustments to the side that secured a point against Sheffield United. With the return of German defender Antonio Rüdiger, he changed the team’s 4-3-3 formation into a 5-2-2-1. He completed the back-three that already consisted of Andreas Christensen and Fikayo Tomori. Mateo Kovačić was also given the nod to remain in the starting lineup while Marcos Alonso was chosen to fill in Emerson’s left wing-back spot.

A goal-thrilling first-half for Chelsea

Immediately after the start of the match, Chelsea showed their intention of building attacks from the backline. They had three centre-backs who were comfortable with the ball and could make penetrative passes towards the attackers. These defenders would stay close to each other, or more specifically, inside the central area, to keep the risk level of their passes as low as possible.

On some occasions, both central midfielders could also drop deep to create a passing block inside the middle third. They came deep to offer possible passing options for the defenders to keep them away from making long passes towards the strikers. Both Jorginho and Kovačić all had the trait of getting the ball deep inside their half and then drive forward with pace, especially the Croatian midfielder.

He acted