Chelsea’s front three is an echo of Frank Lampard’s playing career

Chelsea’s most recent front three configuration is an echo of the attacks Frank Lampard played behind during his own career.

Frank Lampard is a closet two up top guy. He’s never really fully committed to it all the way, but time and time again he dips his toes into the water to check the temperature. Mind, it is rarely two actual strikers up top, but merely a striker plus a player acting a whole lot like a striker. Christian Pulisic was that guy for a lot of last season and the signing of Timo Werner has merely given Lampard a more direct option for the illusion.

The most recent front threes have followed this formula. One winger is practically a striker, then there is the actual striker, and finally an actual winger on the other side. But wait! That winger on the other side is rarely just a winger. In many ways, they are a 10 that happens to play wide. They can drift centrally to create different attacking shapes.

This is all similar to Lampard’s own playing career, particularly under Carlo Ancelotti. The Italian manager rarely used a clear cut two wingers and a striker. Most of the time, he rotated between two strikers and a winger or two strikers and a 10. Occasionally, he simply went 4-4-2. His Everton often does the same now and Lampard is showing the influence more and more since the signings of Werner and Hakim Ziyech.

It is important to note that most “modern” managers will ultimately see their attack in a 3-2-5 or 2-3-5 shape. The five is what is important here. The two widest players are often footed so that they can more easily send in crosses. The players either side of the striker are inverted so they can get shots on goal more easily. Finally, the striker is there to, well, be a striker.

Playing with a front three that consists of a wide striker, a central striker, and an inverted winger makes this five very easy to achieve with only the fullbacks pushing up. But sometimes a five isn’t exactly what is needed. Sometimes, having one striker on either post with wide players to feed to their far post is the play. Even better is having a player in zone 14, or just outside of the center of the box, who can pass to any of those four.

That is what Chelsea can achieve with Werner, Abraham, and Ziyech. The German striker can float in and out of dangerous areas with Abraham pinning centerbacks away from him. Ziyech can float freely to link up with either player. And finally, Abraham can always ensure someone is available in the center. He can even drop deep to allow Werner to cut in where opponents aren’t expecting him.

If this sounds like Nicolas Anelka, Didier Drogba, and Deco, well that’s because it is practically the same idea. Lampard wanted versatility in the side to be able to achieve something similar to this and now he has it. Even better is that Pulisic can fill in for Werner, Werner or Olivier Giroud can fill in for Abraham (with the former offering a different profile up top), and Havertz can go in for Ziyech (and often does when both play together rotating).

Chelsea’s front three gives Lampard options to break down nearly any type of defense. A similar strategy saw Ancelotti’s Chelsea set goal scoring records in the Premier League. Lampard will be hoping for a similar output from his front three.