Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham have been a thorn in the side of Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, and his Chelsea side have proven to be something of a thorn in their side this season.
After a 4-4 draw at Stamford Bridge in which City were defensively unstable, Pochettino has a solid bet on winning the tactical battle in Saturday’s 1-1 draw at the Etihad.
Even as City showed off Erling Haaland’s hat-trick, Chelsea cruised past the Treble winners on the counter-attack with alarming ease.
Pochettino will be encouraged by his team’s performance, which bodes well for next Sunday’s Carabao Cup final against Liverpool at Wembley.
The result means Liverpool and Arsenal have moved ahead of City in the Premier League title race. Telegraph Sport analyzes how Chelsea produced one of the most creditable performances of the season.
We’re starting from Thiago Silva
Pochettino left Thiago Silva on the bench for Chelsea’s impressive FA Cup victory at Aston Villa and here is further evidence that Chelsea might be better off without their 39-year-old centre-back.
Silva is one of the best defenders of his generation, but in the autumn of his career he likes to leave the field and watch the game in front of him.
This poses a problem for Pochettino, whose best teams are built on aggressive pressing from the front. For this lack of possession approach to be effective, your central defenders need to compact the pitch to prevent the team’s units from falling apart.
With Silva ruled out due to injury, Pochettino paired Axel Disasi with Levi Colwill. This was never going to be a contest where Chelsea’s defense could play high, given how City monopolized the ball, but their form was certainly more compact than we’ve seen at some of their poor moments this season. The back four stuck with midfielders Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo rather than leaving them on an island.
Due to the absence of injuries, often a manager can stumble when it comes to choosing the right team, and this could be the case for Chelsea.
The city is unusually heavy
Guardiola prizes control and dominance from the center of the pitch, so it was strange to see City’s shape sometimes resemble a 4-2-4 when attacking, with the full-backs remaining wide.
Selecting a team with Haaland, Julian Alvarez, Phil Foden and Jeremy Doku was a statement of intent, but it meant City would play with four forwards. With Kevin De Bruyne also playing highly, Rodri remained the only orthodox midfielder. Depending on the situation, Manuel Akanji or Alvarez can be next to him as a duo, but neither of them is a specialist midfielder.
“Our rhythm was not right,” Guardiola said. “At the top level you have to play 90 minutes and we only did that in one half.”
City’s ‘rhythm’ often comes from how they move the ball around and they looked like a team missing the figure of Bernardo Silva or Ilkay Gundogan to be the glue between Rodri and De Bruyne. If this was an attempt to force Chelsea off the pitch with firepower, it backfired.
To the disappointment of some City fans, Guardiola decided to use Foden on the right wing with Alavrez in his pocket and both players struggled to influence the game in the first half.
Manchester City (light blue) average positions against Chelsea
Chelsea’s pace reveals City’s fluid backline
Nicolas Jackson and Raheem Sterling repeatedly found themselves on the shoulders of City’s defence, facing the green grass as their team-mates played the ball.
When City set up play, Guardiola likes one of his back four to move alongside Rodri and create a 3-2 formation. Early in his reign at City this player was a full-back like Joao Cancelo or Oleksandr Zinchenko, while last season it was John Stones at centre-back. They can be vulnerable in moments when City switch between shapes.
Akanji took on the role of Stones against Chelsea and is not as fluent as the Englishman (no defender is in this particular role).
With Akanji in midfield, Ruben Dias operates as the lone centre-half at the heart of City’s defence, with Kyle Walker on his right and Nathan Ake on his left. Dias had a difficult time in the return leg at Stamford Bridge, conceding a penalty and struggling to cope with Chelsea’s central running power provided by Conor Gallagher and Jackson.
Gallagher had the engine to break through City’s midfield and join the forward line, and City’s bodies were being pushed forward. Jackson’s ball carrying created Chelsea’s goal which Sterling scored and Jackson was a constant threat. Perhaps wanting to take advantage of Doku’s defensive abilities, Chelsea directed most of their attacks towards the right wing.
Chelsea’s attacking trio against Man City
Chelsea’s standout names: Gallagher, Gusto and Disasi
Gallagher was excellent in midfield and showed exactly why Chelsea fans do not want to see him sold, at least not to Spurs. Tasked with shadowing Rodri throughout the game and shutting down passes to the Spaniard, he was one of the few Chelsea players to fully maintain the tempo when City turned the screw in the final 20 minutes.
Gusto faced a difficult task against Doku but was successful when faced off one-on-one. Doku completed just three of seven innings, and no player won more tackles than Gusto’s five. Reece James’ ongoing injury problems have tested Chelsea’s right-back depth, but they appear to have found a promising player in Gusto.
Chelsea’s outstanding defender was Disasi, who celebrated a goal early in the first half. The Frenchman scored 17 goals overall, the most by any Chelsea player in a Premier League match for eight years. Gusto ranked second in the match with eight points.
Disasi had an inconsistent performance in his first season in England but relished the back-to-the-wall defensive test this game has become.