Chelsea: FA Cup can be a useful slingshot into the league games ahead

A change of competition and a return to a previously used starting lineup could provide Chelsea with a burst of freshness they can carry into the second half of the season.

Chelsea have come away from the busy holiday period in the Champions League spots, five points clear of fifth-place Manchester United. This is happily surprising because of the inconsistency of Chelsea’s performance over the last six weeks. The Blues should be happy with where they are at the moment because they have come through the festive period with relatively few injuries and have a reasonable margin to keep them in the top four.

Chelsea have had big away wins in north London over two direct rivals for Champions League qualification. Before the Arsenal game, there was one unwanted record which Chelsea had to their name: they had never won points from losing positions. They did that despite Arsenal defending deep for about 60 minutes of the game.

Though they have also had bad results against opponents they should be beating, there was some improvement towards the end of the recent stretch of games. The points they dropped in the Brighton game were not due to a lack of creativity but to a lack of clinical finishing.

Now Chelsea will be getting a much-needed respite from the rigours of the Premier League with a romantic home tie against Nottingham Forest.

Both teams will likely field weakened teams to stay aligned with their respective season objectives. This could give a test to many first team players who have watched most of the last two months from the bench, and also provide another opportunity for a handful of other academy prospects.

At the same time, Chelsea have a culture of treating every competition seriously. This will be no different, especially since the FA Cup is Chelsea’s only real chance of a trophy win this season. Just because they may not field a full-strength XI so early in the rounds does not mean Frank Lampard will tolerate any laxity in his team’s approach.

Chelsea will keep their eyes on the home game against Burnley the following week. This game follows the template of games in which Chelsea have struggled: Burnley are in 15th place on a three game losing streak and will defend compactly and physically.

Chelsea should plan on playing the double pivot of Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic against the Clarets. This pair helps the team recycle possession easier and allows for Jorginho to make the most of his creativity by sending in killer passes for Tammy Abraham to latch onto.

N’Golo Kante is the team’s best player, but his passing range is not as extensive as what Jorginho and Kovacic contribtue. Plus, Chelsea’s problem has been their inability to breakdown low block teams. These two provide a broader range of creativity to break down such teams, as they demonstrated during the Blues’ long winning run earlier in the season.

Chelsea’s first priority is a much-needed win at home and progressing to the next round of the FA Cup. Hopefully Frank Lampard’s most important players won’t be needed for this match so they can enjoy the cup tie and build their readiness for the difficult Premier League game already on the horizon.