Chelsea 2-1 Leicester: Foxes lose the battle of 3-4-3 formations

Leicester City couldn’t replicate the result of the FA Cup final, as Chelsea dismantled the Foxes at Stamford Bridge to take the chances of UEFA Champions League out of Brendan Rodgers’ hand.

From a tactical perspective, the two fixtures were fairly similar – Chelsea controlled the ball and utilised their formation (3-4-3) to play through the lines into the front three directly. This positioning was crucial to how Thomas Tuchel wanted to build his attacking sequences; allow passing lanes through Leicester City’s midfield and force the Foxes to track spaces behind them in transitions.

Despite the two fixtures have underlying similarities, one of the biggest changes was the formation and personnel adopted by Brendan Rodgers. I mentioned in my previous article – linked here, that out of possession, Leicester City shifted from their 3-4-1-2 structure to an asymmetrical 4-4-2 to high press in the wide areas of the pitch. However, for the game at Stamford Bridge, Rodgers removed Kelechi Iheanacho from the starting XI and played a 3-4-3 with both Ayoze Pérez and James Maddison – the clubs best number 10’s – starting as de facto wingers for the Foxes.

By switching formation, Rodgers enabled Leicester City to high press within their “possession-based” structure. The combination of Maddison and Luke Thomas on the left-side, and Pérez with Marc Albrighton down the right-side, allowed the Foxes to put pressure on the flanks when Chelsea had possession. More specifically, Maddison and Pérez’s positioning was to apply pressure on the wide centre-backs of the Blues – Antonio Rüdiger and Reece James, attempting to limit their output.