FA CUP FINAL 2021 MATCH ANALYSIS: CHELSEA VS LEICESTER CITY

Chelsea and Leicester City put aside their push to secure a top four finish to slug it out in the Final of the FA Cup and it was Leicester who came off tops thanks to a sublime strike from Youri Tielemans. The XG of 1.13 vs 0.56 suggests that Chelsea had the better chances, however a couple of crucial saves from Kasper Schmeichel and a late VAR decision prevents Chelsea from securing a domestic trophy under Thomas Tuchel.

FORMATION

Lets take a look at the formations deployed by both teams.

Both teams had some similarities with a 3 man defence and two pivots in midfield. However, the set up in the forward areas was different with Chelsea deploying two roving forwards in Mason Mount and Hakim Ziyech behind central forward Timo Werner while Leicester City had Ayoze Perez playing a supporting role from the left side behind twin forwards Jamie Vardy and Kelechi Iheanacho.

In order to deal with Vardy’s run in the left channel areas, Tuchel interestingly decided to play Cesar Azpilicueta at right wing back and play Reece James at right centre back. The initial encounters between the pair suggested that this was a sensible decision as James was able to match Vardy’s pace especially when he made those trademark runs along the left channel of the pitch.

DEEP POSITION OF LEICESTER CITY’S BACKLINE

The high position of Chelsea’s wingbacks together with the roving movements of their forwards forced Leicester City’s wingbacks to sit deep alongside their centre backs and Leicester struggled to gain a hold on the game in the initial moments. When members of Leicester’s backline tried to step up to press either Ziyech or Mount, they left gaps in behind which Chelsea exploited with direct balls for Werner to run onto. This created uncertainty in the minds of their defenders as the game progressed so they were at times reluctant to press aggressively.

FOFANA’s DEFENSIVE CONTRIBUTION

The loss of Evans in the 1st half threatened to derail Leicester’s defence and even though Fofana picked up a yellow card minutes later, he provided a steady performance that ensured the team did not collapse like it did against Newcastle United. Fofana had game high stats of 6 interceptions and 4 block shots and was only 1 behind Soyuncu on clearances with 5. This was a vast improvement on the 3.5 clearances, 2.2 interceptions, 1.8 tackles and 0.5 blocks he has averaged in the Premier League this season

SHIFT IN PEREZ POSITION

Perez had often played a support role behind Vardy and Iheanacho in previous games when Leicester had deployed a 3-4-1-2. However, he spent much of the game supporting Tielemans and Ndidi as part of a midfield three. Perez played from the left side of the midfield and had the licence to get up to support the frontline from the left side in attacking situations. His positioning ensured Leicester had numerical superiority in the midfield and gained a better foothold as the game progressed. This tweak also allowed Vardy to come in centrally and test Thiago Silva for pace.

CHELSEA’S MIDFIELD SWITCH

To combat Leicester numerical advantage in midfield, Tuchel decided to move Mount from the forward positions into midfield so Chelsea now played with Jorginho as the single pivot flanked by Mount on the left and Kante on the right.

One of the biggest criticism of playing Jorginho as a single pivot is his inability to cover ground quickly on the turnover of possession. With James’s pass intercepted by Leicester, Jorginho vacates the centre and tries to press Thomas unsuccessful who has laid the pass to Tielemans. Jorginho then realises he cannot get to Tielemans and asks for help from Thiago who is occupied by Vardy. However, it is too late for Thiago to press effectively and Tielemans unleashes a beautiful strike.

CONCLUSION

With the goal, Tuchel substitutions were made to try and turn the game, bringing on Chillwell and Hudson Odoi as wingbacks, Pulisic to exploit gaps and Harvetz and Giroud for aerial presence in the box. Meanwhile Rodgers late substitutions were made with the intent to hold on to what Leicester had, bringing on Choudhury and Morgan to provide presence and leadership to the backline in the final minutes of the game.

A couple of outstanding saves from Kasper and good fortune with a late VAR decision ensured Leicester City won the first FA Cup in their history.

Let me know your thoughts about the game in the comments.