On Saturday evening Spurs will head to Stamford Bridge to face a Chelsea side riding the crest of a wave that has seen them win their last six league matches without conceding a goal, a run of form that has seen the London side ascend to the top of the Premier league table.
In contrast, Spurs have seen their form fall off in recent weeks as the North London side has have managed only two victories in their last six league games.
The match promises to be an interesting tactical battle with Chelsea, under their Italian coach Antonio Conte, adopting the 3-4-3 system that has led to such defensive solidity and attacking fluidity. On the other hand, we have a Spurs side whose coach Mauricio Pochettino seems unsure of his best system as he switches back and forth between a back three and a back four, leaving the side unbalanced.
There are two key tactical concepts that we should pay particular attention to…
The Chelsea Defensive Trio
Not perhaps the defensive trio that you are expecting, with Gary Cahill and Cesar Azpilicueta acting as part of the back three alongside the Brazilian David Luiz. The key to the defensive structure for Chelsea lies in the relationship between Luiz and the double pivot in midfield of Nemanja Matic and N’golo Kante.
The change in structure from 4-2-3-1 to a basic 3-4-3 has allowed both Matic and Kante to coexist in the same midfield without one of them having to change their favoured role. Early in the season, Conte experimented with Matic as a more advanced midfielder but the Serbian international never looked comfortable receiving the ball in more advanced positions.
Now Matic and Kante form a double pivot that both protects the back three and cycles the ball from one side of the pitch to the other as the situation demands. With wingbacks in place to provide width and three forward players providing the attacking threat, the entire structure works well together.
As the player at the centre of the three man defence, David Luiz is allowed a certain amount of freedom both in terms of positioning and movement. We often see Luiz operating as a modern day Libero and stepping out ahead of his central defensive colleagues in order to provide a pass option for the midfielders ahead of him, or cut out the space between the defensive and midfield lines for the opposition to exploit.
The strong defensive record and fluidity going forward from Chelsea in the 3-4-3 is attributable to all of the team and the coaching staff for installing such a flexible defensive system. That said, the relationship between Luiz, Matic and Kante is such that opposition sides are finding the centre of the field all but unpassable in their attacking phase.
Against Spurs on Saturday, the centre of the defensive structure will be tested to the full by the attacking talent that Spurs possess throughout the centre of the field. Whether the spine of the Chelsea defensive structure can withstand that will be one of the keys to the match.
Where is the Spurs attack?
Last season under Mauricio Pochettino, Spurs were one of the most fluent attacking sides in European football. They carried genuine goal threats throughout the midfield unit and in England international striker Harry Kane, they had a striker that had a real chance to become genuinely World Class when fully developed.
This season, however, the attacking fluidity seems to have deserted the Spurs side and the goals have dried up. This could be attributed to a sense that Pochettino is becoming more noticeably pragmatic in a tactical sense.
The switches between 3-5-2, 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3 this season has left the side unbalanced and unable to settle in to an attacking rhythm. The fitness issues experienced by the likes of Harry Kane and Dele Alli have contributed to the lack of goals this season and the fitness of both is again under doubt for this match against Chelsea.
In order to come away from Stamford Bridge with all three points on Saturday, Spurs will have to find a way to break through the strong central structure of the Chelsea defence. In the best case scenario they will be able to field Kane and Alli along with Christian Eriksen, Moussa Dembele and one of Erik Lamela or Son Heung-Kim.
The best chance that Spurs have is to find a way to overload the wide areas of the final third and force Chelsea to either stretch their back three out wide or instruct their wingbacks to tuck in and form a back five. Once they have achieved either if these outcomes then the strong central midfield for Spurs will have a chance to apply constant pressure to the Chelsea defensive structure.
If Spurs are able to force Chelsea in to a defensive shape and keep the wingbacks pinned back then they at least give themselves a chance of breaking the defensive resistance in front of them.
Conclusion
It is difficult to use recent form as an absolute tool to predict future results, given that Spurs have just been knocked out of the Champions League with a loss to AS Monaco and Chelsea have had the whole week to prepare for this match and fine tune their game plan.
The switch to 3-4-3 has galvanised Chelsea and left the rest of the league at a loss as to how best to deal with all of the attacking threats offered by the system. Spurs coach Pochettino, however, is noted for his tactical acumen and should not be caught out by something as simple as a new system.
On a player by player basis there is little to choose from between the two teams, all that is left then is form.
In that case surely there can be only one winner?
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