Following a consecutive streak of loses, the Blues secured a comfortable 3-0 win which pushed them back into the Champion league slot. Their switch plays and area-focused game worked well to slog the opponents towards them leaving spaces to be exploited.
West Brom’s low block defence
West Brom played with 3-5-2 set up while shifting to 5-3-2 during defensive phases. This allowed the away team to deploy low block defence as well as form pressing structures in active areas in their half when out of possession. They made Chelsea lose possession frequently in the attacking third. Even though the deflected saves and clearances let the Blues to regain possession back in the midfield and re-build from there, this didn’t drag the defenders out of their low block making it harder for Chelsea to penetrate to the box in their next run. For the first quarter, Chelsea were unable to make a coherent passing structure in the attacking third which could have helped them keep possession there.
Chelsea’s build up via switch-plays
The defensive 5-3-2 setup of the Baggies gave Chelsea space all over up to the midfield and at the wings to penetrate to the final third. Yet, their low defence line didn’t let the Blues to make any significant attacking move in the first quarter. Though from the second quarter onwards, Chelsea began exploiting the space created in non-active areas via quick switch plays. Kante brilliantly demonstrated such switch-plays and also forced forward passes at different occasions to shift the game to open spaces. This made the opponents to settle at back and form their low defence line rather than marking him closely in the midfield.
Fabregas also executed his role smoothly by maintaining the circulation of the ball out of the defenders’ multiple pressing via backward and forward passes. He often dropped in different regions to form a triangle with the respective teammates to facilitate the distribution and possession. Fabregas and Kante connected Chelsea’s build up at the back well to their attack. Hazard dropped back too but mostly to solidify the midfield when the opponent got possession, or to help in distribution to keep the possession, but less to collect the ball compared to the last fixtures. It was the possession-based and quick switch plays of Fabregas and Kante which lessened Hazard’s duty to frequently drop back behind the midfield.
As Chelsea improved the coherency of their passing structure from the second quarter onwards, the opponent kept pushing back. Giroud often dropped in between the defence lines to win the balls or drag the play. The striker needs time to establish a fine create-and-finish partnership with the teammates but he is doing good job in dragging defenders and irritating the opponent backline. On the other hand, it was Hazard’s and Moses’ consistent dribbles in and around the opponent’s box – for the first and second goal respectively – which concentrated the defenders towards them and made spaces to create goal-leading attacking moves.
For the third goal, the cross plays among Hazard, Moses, and Fabregas as well as Morata’s dribbling around the away box did the job of dragging opponents which created space for Hazard’s brace – the final goal of the game.
West Brom’s one-route passing
West Brom, with only two men at the front, initiated their attacks via long passes but ended up losing possession outside the Chelsea’s box. Except their few quick counters and penetration in Chelsea’s penalty area, the Baggies didn’t much threaten Chelsea. As the game flows, the away team did manage to stretch their build-up till the midline and made long crosses from there to make more bodies in the final third in time. But they still couldn’t make any significant attacking move and were mostly losing possession when reaching at the front.
In the second half, the Baggies spread their defence line a bit vertically up to Chelsea’s half but this gave Chelsea space in between West Brom’s lines, which only worked in favor of the Blues.
Conclusion
Giroud is yet unable to cover the finishing gap Chelsea has had ever since Diego Costa left. The advanced figures need a lot of work to do to perfect their finishing including Morata, Giroud, and Zappacosta. The wing-back is doing well too in coming up as an advanced figure at his respective flank and is capable to deliver good assists but he still is not distinguished from Chelsea’s weak finishers. With that and so many other challenges, Chelsea is clearly not ready to face Barcelona in the upcoming Champion league clash.