Chelsea still searching for a stable solution in central midfield

Antonio Conte has struggled to find a constant solution to Chelsea’s central midfield this season. None of his pairs or trios have provided a solid base for Chelsea’s attacking players to flourish.

Last season, the N’Golo Kanté-Nemanja Matic axis remained fairly untouched along with the rest of the starting XI. When the Serbian left to join Manchester United in the summer, Chelsea signed Tiemoue Bakayoko as a replacement. Bakayoko has had promising moments, but on the whole has struggled to adapt to life in London.

Through a mixture of bad form, extra games and the introduction of new signings, Antonio Conte has had to experiment with different combinations and partnerships in the centre of midfield. In the 33 Premier League and Champions League games so far, he has used seven midfield variations. The most popular midfield two is the Kante – Bakayoko partnership, which has recorded a 70% win rate. Before the recent defeats to Bournemouth and Watford, these two were undefeated in eight games when starting together.

The most common midfield three is Kante, Bakayoko and Fabregas. They produced three victories, three draws and two losses in their eight games starting together. This has been Conte’s go-to midfield in the big away games.

Overall, the 3-4-3 formation has proved more successful this season, with 15 victories in 23 games. By comparison, Chelsea has four wins from 10 games in a 3-5-2.

When N’Golo Kante is fit and available, he will play. Kante has featured in over 80% of the available minutes so far this season. Bakayoko and Fabregas have played similar amounts, whilst Danny Drinkwater has played considerably less with just 386 minutes.

Antonio Conte needs to find a solution to this problem as the confusion and constant tinkering with the team is not helping. The longest consecutive run of matches for a midfield combination this season was the three game Kante-Bakayoko run, which ended against Watford as the Frenchman missed the West Brom match due to suspension. Cesc Fabregas performed well in the turnaround win, so he may make the most of Bakayoko’s recent form and absence against West Brom.

Next: Chelsea reclaim a sense of purpose in their attack through Olivier Giroud

Antonio Conte probably hoped to introduce Bakayoko to the team slowly. But Cesc Fabregas’ red card on the opening day thrust him into the spotlight in the away game at Tottenham. He has been a mainstay in the team ever since, despite his faltering form. However, as a young player in a new league with obvious potential, the Frenchman still has time to become a good signing for the Blues.