Chelsea’s defenders must be ready for endless 1-on-1’s with Wilfried Zaha

Maurizio Sarri noted his defence’s inconsistency between last weekend against Burnley and midweek against Derby. Chelsea centre-backs will face one of their sternest individual challenges in Wilfried Zaha.

At the team level, Chelsea do not have much to worry about defensively against Crystal Palace. Palace are tied for the third-lowest goals scored (seven) in the Premier League. Even that number is somewhat inflated, as two of those goals came from penalty kicks in their draw against Arsenal. The Blues need to be smart and professional against the Eagles, but they do not need a particularly rigorous defensive plan.

With one exception. Chelsea need a bespoke plan for dealing with Wilfried Zaha.

Zaha is in a similar spot this season as Chelsea’s strikers. He is doing many of the right things, but is not delivering the final product. Zaha is second only to Eden Hazard in successful dribbles this season, with 43 through nine games. He pays the same price as Hazard, too: Zaha leads the league in fouls committed against him (Hazard is a close second). Zaha is second on Crystal Palace for key passes, and takes about one-fifth of Palace’s total shots.

Yet while Hazard has seven goals and three assists, Wilfried Zaha has only scored three and assisted on another. Granted, that means he has created over half of Palace’s goals. But his creative efforts would suggest a much higher output.

The dam could burst at any time, even given the team around him. Zaha’s talent is thoroughly individual. Like Hazard, he can create moments or campaigns of brilliance to raise the level of those around him and drag his team out of temporary (or longer-term) bouts of crapulence.

So while Chelsea do not need to worry about their XI-vs-XI defence against Crystal Palace, they very much need a plan for countering Wilfried Zaha. Antonio Rudiger and Cesar Azpilicueta will have particular responsibilities for handling him.

Azpilicueta is one of the few full-backs who can go step-for-step with Zaha and not give up poor fouls or bookings, not get passed easily on a dribble and can protect the space behind him. Azpilicueta can give Zaha an honest day’s marking, which Zaha will appreciate given the growing need for him and Crystal Palace to speak out about how little protection he receives from the officials. However, Azpilicueta has been off his top form for most of the season. His positioning and tactical reading has been decidedly uncharacteristic.

Rudiger, then, will need to pay close attention to covering Azpilicueta’s back. If Zaha gets past Azpilicueta, it will fall to Rudiger to know if he needs to come out and meet Zaha, or if he needs to stay central to ensure no one opens up for a free header.

Considering how much possession Chelsea will probably have, Rudiger can not count on David Luiz sticking around and – what’s the word? – defending. Given the way the back line have shifted during periods of prolonged possession, Rudiger and Azpiliceuta will likely be the deepest Blues for most of the game. If Crystal Palace counter, the best Luiz could hope to do retreating from Palace’s penalty area is cut out late passes. But by that point, Zaha could have already beat – or at least threatened – Kepa Arrizabalaga.

When Crystal Palace can maintain their possession in Chelsea’s area, a characteristic momentary lapse from Luiz could create the space for Zaha to dribble into; for another forward to peel off for a cross; or for Patrick van Aanholt or Luka Milivojevic to line up a shot from the top of the box.

With Marcos Alonso and N’Golo Kante joining in the offence and David Luiz doing Luiz things, Wilfried Zaha could find plenty of seams in Chelsea’s midfield and defence. He could also see many ripe targets to play their part in padding his dribble stats for the season.

Maurizio Sarri will need his defenders to maintain their fundamentals of one-on-one defending to neutralize Wilfried Zaha. They can put most but not all of their attention towards him, though, because he does have outlet options on the pitch. Crystal Palace are no longer the bogey team they briefly were, but Zaha could do more than enough damage just on his own.