Chelsea’s 2022/23 team of the season: 3-4-2-1 featuring Enzo

Ben Chilwell, No. 21, Left wingback

Cucurella has performed better defensively this season, but Chilwell was better going forward, across the league and Champions League. The latter’s attacking numbers being better is partly because the Spaniard played almost exclusively as a centerback in a back three in the Champions League, and Chilwell played a more advanced role, especially against Borussia Dortmund. Chilwell’s defensive numbers have been worrying this season though, playing as high up as he has been, though in this system it wasn’t as much of an issue because it was a back three. This is the main reason the former Leicester man edges this one, if the formation was a back four, it would be Cucurella.

‘Chilly’ won 0.9 tackles per game in the league, just 64% success rate. His interception numbers were not great either (0.8). He won 49% of his ground duels and an impressive 57% of his aerials duels. It’s impressive because the Englishman is just 1.78m tall. He created just one big chance in 23 games, though he gathered 2.35 expected assists from 21 key passes. He got two assists, which is the same number Cucurella had. His inclusion in this list is more justified by his European competition numbers, where he recorded 2.1 xA from 14 key passes and creating four big chances in UEFA’s Apex club competition. He also did much better defensively in this competition, winning 81% of his attempted 2.1 tackles per game, and a 62% win rate in ground duels.