Chelsea’s defensive trios: Rudiger leads in wins, Cahill in big game moments

With five capable center backs on the roster, Antonio Conte has been able to rotate often. Some combinations prove more successful, as patterns emerge to reveal Conte’s strategy.

Antonio Conte has fielded eight different variations in Chelsea’s back-three this season across the Premier League and Champions League. He has struggled to find a settled option. Last season’s lighter fixture schedule allowed for a consistent lineup, but he has had to adapt with the increased workload this time around.

The preferred option in the 2016/17 title winning campaign was undoubtedly Cesar Azpilicueta, David Luiz and Gary Cahill. That trio has only started together four times this season, losing twice (away at Crystal Palace and Watford), drawing once (Arsenal at home) and winning just once (Atletico Madrid away).

The most popular back-three has been Azpilicueta – Andreas Christensen – Cahill which has featured on 10 occasions with mixed results. It has yielded four victories, four draws and two defeats. This appears to be Conte’s go-to trio in bigger games. They featured in five of the ten big games this season (i.e., matches against the top six and Roma and Atletico Madrid in the Champions League).

The most success has come with Cesar Azpilicueta and Antonio Rudiger on the outside of the defensive line. Chelsea are unbeaten in the 14 games the pair have played together. With Christensen in the middle, they have produced six victories and a single draw from their seven matches.

Individually, Conte trusts all of them to some degree. Azpilicueta is the most utilised, playing in over 96% of the available minutes across the two main competitions. The other four, however, all still play a significant amount, ranging from David Luiz’s 39% of the available minutes to Gary Cahill’s 64%.

Antonio Rudiger comes out on top for individual results. The Blues only lost three times in the 19 games the German has started.

Gary Cahill – as many Chelsea “fans” on Twitter like to gleefully point out – has the worst record of the five defenders. Chelsea have only won 40% of the matches he has started. Conte, however, clearly deems him an important part of the team as Cahill has featured in all 10 big games this season.

In comparison, Rudiger has featured just three times in big games. With Chelsea often sacrificing more of the ball against better opposition, the Chelsea boss rates Cahill’s ability as a defender over the German’s. Conversely, he turns to Rudiger in games where Chelsea will see a lot of the ball.

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Chelsea’s defence overall this season has performed well. Only the two Manchester clubs have conceded fewer in the league. Conte will be pleased that his rotation in the backline has not caused unrest thus far.