Five lessons learnt during Chelsea’s come-back EFL Cup win over Leicester

Cesc Fabregas can not play in a midfield two – Dan McClue

Cesc Fabregas can’t defend, right? Right. Ok, so we are all on the same page.

The Spaniard has played in centre-midfield for previous teams – he’s not new to it. But the situation is different at Chelsea.

The main problem being, Fabregas is so slow. He can not cover the pitch well, not that he was ever particularly good at it. He likes to be in control of the ball, dictating the pace and direction of play. He does not want to worry about his positioning and defensive mindset.

Against Leicester he was relatively anonymous (bar one or two long balls) until Nathaniel Chalobah came on and released the shackles. After this, Fabregas played higher up, almost alongside Diego Costa and Eden Hazard.

Sure, it helped hugely that Leicester were down to ten men at this point, but the Spaniard’s advanced positioning helped break them down.

If Fabregas is to become a regular in the starting XI he needs to replace Nemanja Matic and not Oscar. Matic plays too far up the field as it is, essentially leaving Oscar and N’Golo Kante to do all the defensive work. With that being the case, the Blues may as well play Fabregas who has a lot more attacking threat.

Either way, Fabregas needs at least two central-midfield buddies to cover him.