Chelsea have individually talented midfielders who have not yet come together into a functional midfield unit. This creates the perfect situation for Leicester City’s signature counter-attacks to carve wide channels through the Blues’ midfield.
Players always have mixed emotions about facing their former clubs. N’Golo Kante and Danny Drinkwater may feel an extra level of apprehension about Chelsea’s upcoming fixture against Leicester City. The pair surely recognize how Chelsea’s vulnerabilities in midfield play perfectly into the hands of their former teammates Jamie Vardy, Riyadh Mahrez and Islam Slimani.
Chelsea have yet to find a consistent formation and roster in midfield that is effective on both sides of the ball. Tiemoue Bakayoko and Danny Drinkwater each offer qualities superior to Nemanja Matic, but neither have been able to replace the solidity and functionality of the Matic-Kante pairing last season.
The Blues’ midfield this season have not been able to find the balance of protecting Cesc Fabregas, supporting the attack, covering the defence on a press or transitioning the play. At any moment they may be able to do one of these things. But no arrangement of the 3-4-3 or 3-5-2 in this campaign is effectively doing the full job.
Beyond the short-comings of the formations, perhaps the most impactful factor is the simple revelation that N’Golo Kante has his limits. The fatigue of playing tirelessly for club and country over the last 18 months is taking its toll on him. He is slower, sometimes reluctant and occasionally sloppy. This decrement in performance still lands him in the top 10 of the world’s midfielders. But Chelsea’s success (and Leicester’s the previous year) hinged on his being among the top two or three.
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Kante has compensated by dropping deeper, particularly in Wednesday’s draw against Arsenal. This is partially a cautious defensive move, as neither Drinkwater nor Fabregas can recover from advanced positions on a cover. The deep-lying “destroyer” role may also be a way of alleviating his workload. Antonio Conte may be trying to stem the effects of fatigue by reducing his total number of sprints and distance covered, without taking him out of the lineup.
But it limits Kante’s contributions, particularly in pressing and quickly reclaiming possession. It also creates more space in the midfield for opposing counter-attacks to build momentum, and further severs the links between Chelsea’s midfielders and the wing-backs. With Kante closer to Andreas Christensen than his midfield partners, the midfield loses its pivot points and ability to shut down space by creating overloads.
In the Premier League fixture against Arsenal on January 3, Mesut Ozil freely operated between Chelsea’s midfield and defensive lines during the Gunners’ attack. He would linger in the open space, and no Chelsea player shifted to cover him. This allowed him to time his runs off of one-two’s with Alexis Sanchez into the box.
If Mesut Ozil could so easily stroll through Chelsea’s midfield and then slice through the defence, the Blues could find themselves on the sorry end of a Vardy Party. Leicester needs barely four passes to go from a defensive crouch in their own box to Mahrez sending Vardy in behind the opposing defence. Chelsea’s midfield – both on its own and in its disconnect from the forward and defensive lines – is ripe for the Foxes.
Chelsea’s game against Leicester would be a perfect opportunity to play David Luiz as the “destroyer.” He has only been in this role once this season, but filled it well. The position allows him to play the ball up aggressively and without the constraints of his defensive duties. But it still positions him as the final firewall before the defensive line. His presence in front of the defence will allow N’Golo Kante to play higher, where he can prevent the counters from happening in the first place.
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Leicester have four goals on seven shots on the counter-attack this season, third most in the Premier League. Claude Puel has them close to their 2015/16 counter-attacking form. This fixture will be much more of a tactical duel than it should be, given the disparity between Chelsea’s individual strengths and team functioning.