Danny Drinkwater deserves a run in the Chelsea starting XI

Danny Drinkwater’s performance in the win against Stoke shows that he deserves an extended run in the Chelsea first team.

After a difficult start to the season, mostly due to injury, the Danny Drinkwater has played the full 90 minutes in three of the last five games in all competitions. His performances have been impressive and should be rewarded with continued starts for Chelsea.

Drinkwater was brilliant in the 5-0 win on Saturday, with an excellent long-range goal the cherry on top. Chelsea have been missing goals from central midfield this season with Cesc Fabregas, Tiemoue Bakayoko and N’Golo Kante scoring a combined four goals between them in the Premier League. Although goals shouldn’t be the main product from a central midfielder, it would help to reduce the attacking burden on the forward players.

Drinkwater commented on his goal after the game:

"That’s one thing the manager’s been telling us, we need to score more goals in games we are winning and we got five. (My goal) was alright I suppose, I’m happy with it and it’s good to get off the mark in a Chelsea kit, so happy days. Hopefully there’s a few more on the way. – via chelseafc.com"

It wasn’t just the excellent goal that was impressive in Drinkwater’s performance. His 116 touches was the most of anyone and he completed 94 of the 105 passes he attempted. He also managed seven tackles to crown a superb all-round display. Stoke may not be the toughest opponent, but fans will hope this is a sign of things to come.

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The Drinkwater and Kante partnership helped fire Leicester City to the title in the 2015/16 season and Antonio Conte spoke of the potential the two have in a Chelsea midfield:

"One of the reasons Danny is here is because he won the title with N’Golo two years ago. For sure I have had the opportunity only today to put them to play together like Leicester because Danny started the season with this injury. I know he can improve a lot and then I have the possibility to rotate these midfielders. – via The Times"

With Fabregas struggling in a midfield two and Bakayoko still getting used to a new league,  Conte has shifted in some games from his favoured 3-4-3 to a 3-5-2. This also helps in the bigger games when more legs are needed in the middle of the park.

The return to full match-fitness of Drinkwater provides Chelsea with the opportunity to play with the manager’s preferred system. Drinkwater is the perfect foil to Kante, proving good defensive protection and positioning, but with a good range of passing.

More importantly, having all of Chelsea’s central midfielders available gives Conte the ability to rotate and adapt. That is paramount with Chelsea participating in 4 competitions in the second half of the season.

In a 3-4-3, mainstay Kante can be partnered with any of the other three depending on the type of game. For example a Kante-Fabregas partnership should be used against teams who sit deep, where Chelsea have a lot of the ball and need to try and break down a tough opposition.

In a 3-5-2, the Kante-Bakayoko-Fabregas midfield three has been favoured in the bigger games. It was successful in the away victory against Atletico Madrid and at home against Manchester United. The more defensive Kante-Bakayoko-Drinkwater trio worked to some extent in the away draw with Liverpool, although it left the front two a little isolated.

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Whatever formation Conte uses more frequently going forward, Drinkwater deserves an extended run to show his worth.