Chelsea’s starting XI heatmap: Which players pair nicely with each other?

Antonio Conte has shuffled his starting XI across 48 matches in all competitions so far this season. But if it seems like some Chelsea players never have a day off, it may be because some rarely do.

Squad rotation has been one of the defining features of Chelsea’s 2017/18, and one of the distinguishing characteristics from last season. Between the return of Champions League football and a wave of injuries – including some the players picked up on international duty or with their previous club – Antonio Conte could not rely on the same starting XI each week as he did last year.

Chelsea have had 26 players appear in starting XI’s across four competitions this summer. Of those 26, seven pairs of players have started together in 30 or more games. Unsurprisingly, Cesar Azpilicueta, Marcos Alonso, Thibaut Courtois and N’Golo Kante are almost always on the pitch together at the starting whistle.

Only one player has started at least one game with every Chelsea starter. Gary Cahill is captain, mentor and welcoming committee for each new Blue coming into the starting XI. Willian is only one player shy of completing the set: Ross Barkley. The multiply-injured midfielder is returning to full training during the international break, so Willian may have his chance. Strangely, Davide Zappacosta is also only missing one start partner, but that will remain so: Jeremie Boga is not coming back this season.

Outside of the five players in the lower left corner, the pairings are about evenly distributed across this core. Within the full set of 26 starters, 17 have each started a game with every other player in the sub-group. If Antonio Conte had only followed his heart and started Michy Batshuayi and Marcos Alonso as the striker pair in a true 3-5-2, the sub-group would have 18.

Of the remaining eight players, three went on loan after the season started (Kenedy, Charly Musonda and Jeremie Boga); three arrived in January (Olivier Giroud, Ross Barkley and Emerson); and one is Willy Caballero, who will never share a start with Thibaut Courtois. The last is Ethan Ampadu. Chelsea signed him in the summer and he has become as close to a regular as a 17-year old could ever be at Chelsea. Unfortunately, he will not be playing any more this season as he fractured his ankle at a youth game this weekend.

Willy Caballero forms a boundary of sorts on the heatmap. To his left (or down, depending on how you are reading it) are the regular starters around whom Antonio Conte constructs each XI. To his right (or above), are the transient, part-time Blues.

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This is an apt role for the backup goalkeeper who has started all but one domestic cup game, and only one Premier League game.