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.
I liked this alteration from Rodgers, the in/out formation switches in the FA Cup final rewarded the Foxes with their first trophy in the competition, and by deploying a structure that “could” facilitate both phases of play should’ve simplified the rotations of positions for Leicester City.
Unfortunately, and this is why Chelsea played with such dominance, Tuchel understood how to utilise these structures against the Foxes. The high press (from Leicester City) in wide areas was exploited and enabled a lot of space for the Chelsea front three versus Leicester City’s centre-backs in one-on-one scenarios.
To enable this, Tuchel asked his wide centre-backs to carry the ball upon receiving – attracting the press from either Maddison or Pérez, before laying off a pass into the wing-backs. In a domino effect, the Leicester City wing-backs would support the initiation of the high press and look to close the space, and time, the receiving wing-back had in possession. Consequently, they’d allow a lot of space for the Chelsea wingers to occupy in the width behind them – then after a simple combination with the central-midfielders (Jorginho in the defensive/middle third and N’golo Kante in the attacking third) they’d be through the Foxes press and behind the midfield line.
It’s made to look very simple, but the positioning of the Chelsea players, the angles they offer for passing lanes, and the execution of all these principles is of the highest quality. In contrast, I felt that Leicester City’s midfielders looked scared to offer for the ball under pressure – only Wilfred Ndidi was doing this (and that’s due to his positioning not due to his confidence in that role), whereas Youri Tielemans played higher up and away from receiving play from the Foxes defence.
That’s why the fixture played out in this manner, Chelsea efficiently played through the Leicester City high press, and when the Foxes did turn over possession they didn’t have the tools in place (midfield not offering for possession from the defence) to build out the back. As a result, they played long and into non-effective areas. By shifting Iheanacho out of the starting XI, Jamie Vardy would be fighting for possession in an isolated battle with two-to-three Chelsea defenders – losing the majority of these (not his fault – he was simply outnumbered).
I want to preface all of this, Leicester put everything into the FA Cup final – emotionally and physically – and despite pressing with intensity, and looking fairly fresh on the pitch, they were understandably shattered. I don’t want this to scapegoat the performance, which was frustratingly below par – I’m merely providing important context.
Overall, it was a disappointing evening. The dream of UEFA Champions League football is now out of Leicester City’s hands, depending on results elsewhere to establish a top four finish. Chelsea play Aston Villa, while Liverpool face Burnley and Crystal Palace – if all three fixtures go in the favour of the “favourite”, the Foxes finish fifth. There’s other slight deviations depending on situations, but ultimately, the last game of the season – Tottenham Hotspur, has to be won by Brendan Rodgers’ side to potentially maintain their top four spot, otherwise they’ll be competing in the UEFA Europa League next season.
For me, as a general rule, the performances this season should’ve rewarded this set of players with the elite European competition next season, but too many losses at home versus inferior teams have cost the Foxes.