Chelsea lessons learned vs. Leicester: Set pieces improve, January backfires

Chelsea have the winter break to rest, recover and reflect on the past few months. Here are a few things we have in mind after the draw at Leicester City.

Results around the Premier League this weekend have Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham Hotspur only four points behind Chelsea going into the break. The Blues have plenty to ponder as they plot their route to a top four finish.

1. Lampard shows character as he drops Kepa Arrizabalaga

Kepa Arrizabalaga’s performances have been under the microscope for a while as the Spaniard has failed to perform consistently for the Blues. With the “world’s most expensive goalkeeper” tag looming over his head, he has fallen short of justifying it and has struggled in every way, to say the least.

One of the reasons behind the slump has been that Chelsea has failed to provide Arrizabalaga with any competition.

Against Leicester City, Frank Lampard showed stiff character in his decision to drop Arrizabalaga from the starting lineup and play Willy Caballero instead. This was obviously a big decision, putting £72 million on the bench in favor of a 38-year-old. Had the match gone calamitously wrong, Lampard would join Arrizabalaga as the target of everybody’s scrutiny.

Moreover, this was a statement to all underperforming players at the club that survival at Chelsea will only be guaranteed through performances. If even the No. 1 goalkeeper can take a seat, then no one is safe unless they earn their place.

2. Chelsea improves on set pieces

Chelsea has struggled on set pieces for the past couple of seasons. Despite winning numerous corners and free kicks, they have failed to score regularly and have effectively wasted chances from some promising areas.

One of the biggest problems has been poor deliveries into the box. However, against Leicester, Antonio Rudiger took full advantage of Mason Mount’s crosses and ended up scoring twice for the Blues. His second goal was a majestic header from 12 yards out which went straight into the corner.

Rudiger stamped authority on the game and won Chelsea the point single-handedly. He was constantly on the lookout to bring the ball out of defense and was strong with his tackling as well.

3. No signings in January backfired immediately

The biggest ongoing concern at Stamford Bridge has been the underperformance of Chelsea’s front line. While Tammy Abraham was on fire in the first half of the season, he has been struggling recently as he has only scored four times in the 11 games before the match against the Foxes.

Frank Lampard started four forwards at King Power Stadium: Tammy Abraham, Pedro, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Mason Mount.

Chelsea’s No. 9 failed to create any sort of impact as he was dispossessed constantly. His touches were poor and he looked out of touch in general. Abraham failed to take a single shot in the entire game as he was just not able to find the space to release the ball.

Mason Mount had two shots and the other two forwards had one each, which is a troublingly low output, and that’s before we even get into the quality of the shots; the inability to finish them; and those chances that never even became a shot because something went wrong for the Blues (e.g., Hudson-Odoi’s whiffed kick or Pedro missing a perfect opportunity to play Tammy Abraham behind the defensive line).

Most of the players Chelsea were linked with in January were strikers who would need little time to make an impact on this team. Having signed no one, their needs are exactly as they were before and no one showed any signs of doing any better now that they will not have new teammates challenging them in the lineup.