As Chelsea made the short trip across London to take on Tottenham, there was just one point separating these two sides in the table.
A deeper dive into the manner in which both teams had achieved those points would reveal a different story.
Tottenham, with a zero goal difference, had been overachieving. Chelsea, on the other hand, were worth every bit of their 11-point tally.
Spurs boss Nuno Espirito Santo though had shown in his side’s win over Manchester City that he enjoyed being cast in the role of spoiler.
Could he come up with another masterplan to derail a Chelsea side that were starting to look like an unstoppable train?
Nuno shuffles front three with mixed success
The big surprise, which we saw straight away from the kick-off, was Espirito Santo’s decision to field Harry Kane on the left of his front three and Son Heung-min down the middle, rather than vice versa.
The reasons for this appeared to be twofold. One tactic that was evident from early on was Tottenham’s efforts to get Kane competing in the air against Andreas Christensen as often as possible, with Son looking to run in behind for the flick on.
Christensen hasn’t ever particularly struck me as a player who is weak on aerial duels but given the number of direct balls that were played up between the two early on, you have to assume that this was by design.
He handled the challenge admirably though, winning all three early contests and forcing Espirito Santo into a rethink.
The second reason behind the switch focused on Chelsea’s selection of Thiago Silva in the centre of their back three and Tottenham attempts isolate him against the pacy Son. To do this they needed to drag the outside centre-halves out of position before trying to slide passes into the vacated space for him to run onto.
This tactic really only succeeded on one occasion in the first half, but it did create their best chance of the game.
Tottenham’s midfield three flattened out and Giovani Lo Celso dropped in to create the overload. This allowed them to work the ball to Tanguy Ndombele, who drew Antonio Rudiger out of position. Ndombele then found Lo Celso, who now had Son running outside Silva in exactly the situation they would have worked on on the training ground. But the South Korean’s first touch was too heavy and it allowed Kepa Arrizabalaga to come out and smoother the ball.
Tuchel changes system…
Immediately after that Son chance, a conversation took place on the side line between Chelsea’s manager, Thomas Tuchel, and their captain Cesar Azpilicueta.
This chat turned out to be one of two key moments in the game.
On the resumption of play, Chelsea switched from their 3-4-2-1 system to a 3-5-2, with Mason Mount dropping in to become an orthodox midfielder and Kai Havertz now partnering Romelu Lukaku up front.
The idea behind the move was almost certainly to try and give Chelsea some control of the game in the middle third of the field but it seemed to have little effect as Tottenham controlled 62% possession over the remaining 13 minutes of the half.
…and then introduces Kante
During the half-time break, Tuchel was clinical in deciding what his team needed. Had he started with this current formation would this have been the personnel he’ have chosen?
With N’Golo Kante waiting in the wings, the answer was obvious and so French dynamo was introduced at the expense of Mount.
The impact was instant. Just twelve minutes into the second half, having failed to register a shot on target in whole of the first half, Chelsea were two-nil up, with Kante having scored one of the goals.
Chelsea would go on to win the game three-nil. Given that they had ten shots on target in the second half, the gap could easily have been greater.
But how did the introduction of one player (or maybe two if you were to go by Kante’s apt nickname of ‘The Twins’) cause such a dramatic swing in the game?
What Kante gives you above all else in a game is control. His passing, while not overly expansive, is always neat and tidy, while his high energy pressing and ability to get you the ball back is a game-changer and has a massive influence on those around him.
Jorginho could now do his thing, playing more passes than any other player in the second half.
Matteo Kovacic went from not being in the top five distributers of the ball in the first half to joint second, alongside Kante himself, after the interval.
Even more crucial is the impact that Kante’s presence has on the oppositions build up-play. Pierre-Emile Hojberg, Tottenham’s heartbeat and the player who played the most passes in the first half, dropped out of the top five completely in the second half.
Ndombele, the second highest passer in that first half, was highly instrumental up until the break. Seventeen minutes after Kante’s introduction, he was substituted.
It may seem overly simplistic to point to just one player for the turnaround in this game given that so many Chelsea players had improved performances in the second half. But would these players have had the opportunity to flourish if Kante hadn’t helped his team establish such a midfield supremacy?
Marcos Alonso, for example, was outstanding after the break, contributing four shots at goal and creating three goalscoring chances. Again though, this attacking freedom was built on Chelsea having more of the ball and his more advanced positioning was due to the extra cover he now had in midfield.
Conclusion
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side started this game very well, in part due of his tinkering with his front three, but mainly down to their aggressive press helping them to win the battle for possession.
Tuchel reacted decisively, first with the formation change, then with the half-time substitution. It certainly helps when you have the quality on the bench that he was able to call on, but it seems he can do no wrong at the minute.
Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City side, and with them the ultimate test of his title credentials, await him next Saturday.
