Chelsea lined up against Tottenham on Sunday in what Thomas Tuchel called a 4-1-4-1 formation. After sticking firmly to a back three for the first 11 months of his time at the club, the manager has started using a back 4 in recent weeks, as injuries and bad form force him to try new solutions.
Formations change during games, and they are all deployed slightly differently depending on who is in the line-up, but FBRef have Chelsea using a back 4 in four of their last 6 games.
With both of our first choice wing backs out, this shape suits the remaining players well. Cesar Azpilicueta and whoever plays at left back (Malang Sarr, in the case of Sunday’s game) have a much deeper starting position, which suits their skillset, and a centre back is replaced by an extra midfielder.
It gives the players on the wings different angles to attack, something which seemed to suit Hakim Ziyech and Callum Hudson-Odoi well. Tuchel described it afterwards as a useful option to have, avoiding committing himself to it – but he must be thinking seriously about using it again.
Of course, any manager would be reluctant to move away from a formation and a system that he has spent so long teaching his charges. But with Reece James and Ben Chilwell, two key components of that formula, unavailable for some time, it might be time to adapt to the strengths of the players Chelsea do have available for the foreseeable future.
The Blues now have an odd run of games – two weeks off followed by an FA Cup tie against lower league opposition, then the Club World Cup, then a Premier League contest against Crystal Palace before important matches against Lille in the Champions League and Liverpool in the EFL Cup final.
It will be interesting to see whether Tuchel decides to use these softer games to get his team more and more well versed in the back four, or whether he now reverts to a form of 343.
When James returns – a moment which could still be a month or more away – the balance probably swings in favour of the latter, given how much damage the right wing back can do. But until then, the 4 might just be the way forward for this team as it struggles for attacking chemistry and new challenges for opposition defences.
