Chelsea vs West Ham: Three things to look out for

The midfield battle

Chelsea’s midfield has struggled with protecting the backline and escaping pressure this season. They have many non-holding midfielders that Tuchel has been forced to play as holding midfielders due to injuries and other circumstances. Conor Gallagher is best suited to playing in an advanced midfield role and when it’s a pivot there’s no space for an advanced midfield role. Gallagher is not yet disciplined enough to curb his natural tendencies and play the role of a holding midfielder, even though he’s a good tackler.

Many fans have highlighted Jorginho as the fall guy for the Blues midfield problems, but a midfield pivot only works when both players know their roles. Jorginho has been left to cover large amounts of space in too many defensive situations to be taking any blame for what’s happening at the moment. Jorginho has attempted the most tackles out of all CFC’s central midfielders this season. He’s also not had a consistent partner since the season started. One thing is certain though: Chelsea’s midfield has struggled this season, and no, it’s not any one players fault, but it’s a glaring problem that Tuchel needs to address before the next game, because West Ham’s Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek are no slouches.

The Southampton and Leeds games showed why the Blues cannot afford to continue the way they’ve been playing. The midfield is responsible for distributing the ball to the forward line. When they cannot do that, the forwards suffer because they get no service, and the defenders suffer because they have no way of escaping pressure. Leeds and Southampton pressed the Blues perfectly, and the midfield was unable to string passes together, get out of pressure and supply the front line. It might be time to give Billy Gilmour a chance, since he’s not an attacking no. 8 and actually understands what the role of a holding midfielder is.