Can Conte achieve the impossible and win the Premier League with three at the back?
No Premier League team has ever won the Premier League whilst playing three at the back, but Chelsea might just defy the odds.
Of the 24 title winning sides so far in Premier League history, none consistently deployed a formation with three central defenders in their starting line-up.
After Chelsea’s dismal 10th placed finish in the league last season, Antonio Conte had a monumental task of picking up the pieces.
The Italian has been tasked with turning a group of disinterested players back into the title contenders everyone knows they can be – which he has done in some style.
During the early parts of the season, you could still see the remnants of last season’s disarray creeping into their game – with Chelsea’s 3-0 defeat to Arsenal in September being the catalyst for change.
Following on from Chelsea’s humiliation at The Emirates, Conte decided to opt for a 3-4-3 formation. Since then, his side have kept five league clean sheets in-a-row and currently sit second in the league standings.
This has prompted the question: Can Chelsea win the Premier League with a 3-4-3? Recent form certainly suggests that they can – with only Liverpool having accrued more points this term.
Chelsea have been lining up with three central defenders in the league; Cesar Azpilicueta, Gary Cahill and David Luiz. Although, they are not alone in their defensive duties, with Marcos Alonso and Victor Moses filling out the wing-back/deep-lying winger roles. Of course, having a world-class goalkeeper in the form of Thibaut Courtois helps no end.
But can they sustain this run and win the league whilst playing this way? That is the all-important question and it really depends upon fitness. If Chelsea can keep consistency in team selections then there is no reason as to why they cannot finish the season on top of the pile whilst playing their expansive football.
Conte, and Chelsea – came under harsh criticism when they announced the return of David Luiz from Paris Saint-Germain. Football fans as a whole tend to think of the idiocy and hysterics surrounding Luiz’s play – forgetting that he is a top-class central defender, the world’s most expensive, in fact.
Luiz has been pivotal to the success of Conte’s 3-4-3 formation working as well as it has, whether critics are willing to admit it or not. The extravagant Brazilian has been the sweeper in the back three; lying between Azpilicueta and Cahill and covering any slips they may make during matches.
The defence is not the only aspect of the system that makes it so unique and entertaining – the forward line is too. The formation allows for Alonso and Moses to bomb forward, with Eden Hazard, Diego Costa and Pedro or Willian also lining up in the front three positions.
Hazard has been, without a doubt, the best player in the Premier League this season. The mercurial Belgian has scored seven goals and created 20 chances in just 11 league games – of which he has only completed 90 minutes four times.
The way he manipulates the ball and commits defenders is different to any other player in the league – with some of the moves/phases of play he creates being breathtaking pieces of footballing skill.
Not only Hazard; Costa has been in sublime form this season. Costa in currently the top goalscorer in the Premier League with nine goals. He also has three assists, meaning that he has been involved in more goals than any other player in the league this season.
The formation allows Hazard to roam further forward without doing the ‘dirty work’ of tracking back, with Alonso now fulfilling that role for him. This has enabled the winger to get further up in support of Costa and allow him to create more chances for the Spaniard.
If Chelsea can keep the likes of Luiz and Hazard and Costa fit and in the starting line-up then they could just go on to defy the odds and lift the title having played three at the back.
