This Saturday sees Swansea make their way to Stamford Bridge to face a Chelsea side keen to recover from their 3-1 setback at Man United last Sunday. Chelsea’s evolution under Andres Villas-Boas has seen the Blues slowly, but surely, alter their style of play and ditch the more direct approach of recent years for a more dynamic, intelligent build-up aided by players with incisive, ball-playing ability, while Swansea have been a breath of fresh air since clinching promotion last season, with Brendan Rodgers’ patient passing game a welcome addition to the Premier League.
In terms of keeping possession, both sides have been amongst the most impressive in England’s top-flight so far; Chelsea have averaged 60% per game –the highest tally in the division- whilst the newly-promoted Welsh side are on the 56% mark, joint-second with Man United and Arsenal. WhoScored analyses both sides’ playing styles ahead of what promises to be a fascinating showdown this Saturday afternoon:
Chelsea
Style
Villas-Boas has tended to favour the 4-3-3 so far this season, though tactical changes have also seen a 4-2-3-1 rolled out, dependant on the state of play from match to match. Chelsea’s use of the flanks is fairly evenly balanced- 38% down the left and 34% on the right, with only 28% of their attacks from the middle.
The new Chelsea manager’s penchant for attacking football places plenty of emphasis on the full-backs and has afforded Jose Bosingwa a chance to re-establish himself as a first choice at right-back; Bosingwa has averaged 56 passes, the second-highest of any Chelsea player and made 1.2 crosses per game. Ashley Cole, on the opposite flank, has 51.6 passes and made 0.8 crosses in comparison.
Chelsea’s 60% possession sees them carve out plenty chances- 16 shots per game is second only to Man City (18), though poor finishing means they have scored just 8 goals in comparison to City’s 17. Man United’s stats show just how clinical they are, top scorers in the league with 21 goals from an average 14 shots. Defensively, the stats show plenty of promise for Villas-Boas’ side- they concede just 10 shots per game –the best in the league- and half United’s 20. However, in spite of this, Chelsea have conceded 6 goals compared to United’s 4.
Crucially, this is down to where Chelsea control the play; 33% of their possession comes in the opponent’s final third, with 41% in the middle and only 25% comes in their own defensive third of the pitch- explanation as to just how they are creating so many chances and conceding so few shots, with so much of the play in their opponents’ danger area.
Distribution
Villas-Boas’ side have averaged 551 passes per game- the same number as Man United. Of these, 459 are short passes, with an 83% accuracy. Chelsea’s tendency to play long balls is quickly dissipating- they play just 57 per game, compared with United’s 71; with just 10% accuracy from said attempts, it’s easy to see why Villas-Boas is looking to alter their approach.
Their crossing has been poor, too; 29 per game with a 5% success rate, though 6 through balls per game –compared to United’s 4- is (as mentioned above) indicative of the added creative streak afforded by the likes of Juan Mata and the increased tactic of playing to Fernando Torres’ strengths up front, as Villas-Boas looks to get the best out of his £50m forward.
A look at the Chelsea top five for key passes per game is intriguing- both full-backs feature (Bosingwa on 1.6 and Cole on 1.2) but two of the other three slots are taken by Villas-Boas signings; Juan Mata has averaged 3.7, while Raul Meireles has offered 2.5. Chelsea are clearly a work in progress but the signs are extremely positive that Villas-Boas is having a definite impact.
Mata, in particular, has returned the sort of stats that show just why he’s such an integral part of this new-look side- he leads the way on key passes (3.7), pass accuracy (90%), accurate through balls per game (1.3) and successful crosses per game(2.3).
Swansea
Style
Swansea’s 4-3-3 formation means they tend to use the wings as much as possible. Only 25% of their play comes through the middle, with 43% on the right and 32% on the left flank. This lop-sided approach means right-back Angel Rangel plays a huge part in their game- he makes 70.2 passes per game compared to left-back Neil Taylor’s 42 passes per game. In spite of their considerable possession though, the pair rarely cross the ball- just 0.8 apiece per game is integral to Swansea’s ability to keep the ball.
There’s no doubt their possession game has been effective in preventing opponents with goalscoring opportunities; Swansea have made 16 tackles per game, the second-lowest Premier League tally and averaged just 6 fouls in addition to picking up three clean sheets in five games. However, it’s come at the detriment of their own ability to threaten- Rodgers’ side have mustered just 9 shots per game, with only Stoke (6) averaging less.
In the main, this is down to the area of the field Swansea tend to control the game in- 77% of their play comes in their own defensive third or the middle, with only 22% in the crucial final third of the pitch explaining their lack of any real cutting edge.
Distribution
Somewhat bizarrely, Swansea also match Chelsea and Man United with 551 passes per game, making 458 short passes, just 1 less than the Blues. An average of 72 long balls is clearly not suited to their style, though- only 13% have been successful. The Swans’ crossing, while low –just 19 per game- has been highly unsuccessful too, with only 3% effective.
In central midfield, Leon Britton is something of an unsung hero- he averages 53.8 passes and, keeping it short and simple, has a fantastic 93% accuracy. On the wings, it’s the same scenario as the full-backs- Scott Sinclair makes 24.2 passes per game and 0.8 crosses from the left, while Nathan Dyer makes 30.4 passes and just 0.2 crosses per game from the opposite flank. The one downside with this approach so far for the Welsh club is the lack of creativity from their wingers- Sinclair and Dyer have averaged just 1 key pass per game each and it took Swansea till last week- their fifth game of the season- before they even found the net.
