Chelsea: Willian and Azpilicueta will be even more important as injuries mount

Chelsea will end the international break with more injured players than they had at the start, again. Cesar Azpilicueta and Willian will be increasingly important in how the Blues adapt and respond, again.

The first round of games in the international break brought (re)injuries to N’Golo Kante, Mateo Kovacic and Andreas Christensen. Reece James returned from England’s U21 side before they even travelled for their first game. Even if these players are all available for selection on Saturday, as expected, the concentration of these injuries in defence and defensive aspects of midfield will strain Chelsea just as they were starting to find some solidity at the back.

With the exception of N’Golo Kante, the Blues can withstand the absence of any one of these players without too much issue. But if any two of them are out of the lineup at the same time, Frank Lampard will have to tap into his backup lineups and formations to prevent Chelsea from reverting to their defensive and midfield sieve.

N’Golo Kante is nearly essential to the Blues playing a four-man back-line against quality opponents. He is the only player that can protect a centreback pair enough to allow one centreback and the full-backs to support the attack as much as Lampard demands. Without Kante, the Blues’ best defensive structure has three centrebacks.

But if Andreas Christensen is out of the lineup, the Blues would not have a reserve centreback to support a three man back-line. Fikayo Tomori, Kurt Zouma and Cesar Azpilicueta would be the starting trio. If one of them went down to injury, Lampard would be forced into a four-man defence.

Of course, Azpilicueta starting as a centreback implies Reece James is available. If James is out of the lineup, Azpilicueta would have to return to right back / right wing-back.

Lampard’s other option, though, in case such a pile-up of injuries comes to pass, would be to use Willian as the right wing-back. Willian’s play over the last few games has had elements of nearly every position on the right side and centre of the pitch. He has supported Cesar Azpilicueta on both sides of the ball, drops deep to bring play out in support of Jorginho and performs the full range of direct and indirect offensive play necessary in a winger / attacking midfielder. Using Willian as a wing-back would constrain the space he worked in without adding much to his job description as it has evolved this season.

Using Willian on the flank could open a spot for Christian Pulisic, and Willian would be a good partner for bringing Pulisic into the game. Willian has already been doing everything Pulisic needs to do. On the pitch together, Willian would cover more of the all-around game, particularly on the wings, allowing Pulisic to support the attack through the centre. Willian and Azpilicueta would be enough of a defensive tandem along the right to alleviate some of the pressure on Pulisic in transition to defence, something he struggled with in his early appearances this season.

If, on the other hand, Reece James is available but N’Golo Kante and Mateo Kovacic are not, Azpiliceuta could find himself fulfilling his destiny in defensive midfield. Without Kovacic to interdict counterattacks and Kante to break up plays, the centrebacks would have Ross Barkley and Jorginho between them and the on-rush.

Playing Azpilicueta in front of the two or three centrebacks would give Chelsea some protection against counter-attacks. Once established on defence, Azpilicueta would fall into a familiar position on a five-man defensive line; and on offence he would be free to step into many of the same positions from which he served crosses to Alvaro Morata two seasons ago, and where Fikayo Tomori has already assisted on a Tammy Abraham goal.

Frank Lampard and his physio team are in a bit of quicksand with injuries, rotation and recovery periods, and national team managers did not help their case. Even if all four of Chelsea’s international break casualties are ready for Newcastle on Saturday, they will still be less than fully fit and healthy. Lampard may not be able to use all the players he wants to as much as he would like to, but shorn of other options, he may have to take advantage of the versatility of those he has at full fitness.

Willian and Azpilicueta were two of Chelsea’s most valuable players in the games between the international breaks. As this break takes more Chelsea players off the pitch and onto the training table, their well-rounded games may pull Chelsea through this next patch.