Six matches into Antonio Conte’s 3-4-3 system, and opposition managers are no closer to working out how to defeat Chelsea – or indeed, even score against them. It is now a cumulative score of 17-0 since Conte switched to that formation in the aftermath of the 3-0 defeat at Arsenal, and they have risen from eighth to top in that period. While this was not an overwhelmingly impressive attacking display, Chelsea had very few problems defensively.
Whereas other managers have reorganised dramatically in an attempt to cope with Chelsea’s formation, Aitor Karanka stuck to his usual template. This was a narrow, defensive‑minded 4-1-4-1 system that left the somewhat immobile Álvaro Negredo desperately isolated up front, although Middlesbrough got numbers back to cope with Chelsea’s overlapping wing-backs, and the back four remained close together, preventing dangerous through-balls penetrating their defence.
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