A Blue up North previews the Huddersfield v Chelsea match…
This Tuesday sees The Blues head to Yorkshire for their visit to Huddersfield. As the matches keep coming thick and fast, this is Chelsea’s 4th match of 9 in the month of December, a run of matches that most who follow the club had hoped would be a springboard to a title challenge at the very top of the Premier League. 10th place was the highest position held by any of their opponents at the start of the month whilst Manchester City had some trickier ties to potentially slip up on.
The month did start with Chelsea defeating the hapless Newcastle United, but this was followed by a home draw to Atlético Madrid which confined The Blues to second in their Champions League group and an eventual last 16 tie against Barcelona. Then came a stuttering loss away to London rivals West Ham. So instead of a run of 8 consecutive league victories, Antonio Conte’s side have dropped 3 points, leading to the manager stating that Chelsea are not in the title race, and in his opinion, were never in the title race after the opening season defeat at home to Burnley.
What he was definitely hinting towards was that the nature of these performances are not on the level at which potential champions play. For most of last season, his league title winning team never looked so fragile when not in form, but were also so devastating when their tails were up as they swept all before them.
Already this month we have seen The Blues spend long periods of matches struggling for any form or rhythm. But what is more alarming is they are starting matches so poorly. Both the free falling Magpies and next to bottom place Hammers were outplaying them for the kick off and they both took deserved leads in their match ups. The former were unable to retain their lead, mostly due to Eden Hazard’s brilliance, whilst the latter held firm and emerged with all 3 points.
It does seem so very curious as to why Antonio Conte’s players kick off their matches so sluggishly. The obvious tactic for clubs lower down the league when playing the top ranked clubs is to start at their highest tempo in the hope they can take the lead and then hang on for dear life with as strong a defensive display as possible. Mission accomplished for West Ham.
We can expect exactly the same away at Huddersfield. They are a side who defend in numbers and create very few opportunities for themselves. Remember they were the surprise package in The Championship last season and never expected promotion to the Premier League. With this in mind they were most people’s tip to be the whipping boys and prop the rest of the clubs up from last place. However, spirited performances and a steely defence have rewarded them with some significant scalps, the most impressive being Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United defeat at the John Smiths Stadium.
Admittedly they have been less fortunate with their results more recently with the home victory of other relegation favourites Brighton over the weekend was their first win in 6 league matches. However they have won 3 of their last 4 home matches.
So we know what to expect from the home side. However for the visitors it is a different story. We could see any level of changes to Conte’s line up and potentially a change in formation. A not fully fit Alvaro Morata played the full 90 minutes on Saturday and could well drop out, whilst Rudiger, Moses, Pedro, Willian and the returning Drinkwater and Batshauyi will all be hoping to start.
It’s maybe the Italian in Conte that has seen him over rely on the more solid looking 3-5-2 even against the less fancied sides recently. Will he start with a more attack minded line up and urge his players to start at a much higher tempo and press as much as they can for the first goal. Otherwise they could fall once again into the trap of the underdogs and once again be trying to overturn an early deficit.
Surely we will see a stronger, more purposeful start from Chelsea. One that will quieten down a very passionate home support. Early pressure, taking more shots on and better finishing should see the away side dominate from the start. Scoring the all important first goal will surely lead to The Blues getting back into winning ways and restart a sequence of results which will see them strengthen their claim to a top 4 finish.
