Inside-Forwards Are The Key To Premier League Success

Last season, as Chelsea became the first team since Everton in 1962-63 to win the league playing with a back three, much of the focus was on how well David Luiz performed as a ballplaying centre-back with a defender either side of him, how effectively Cesar Azpilicueta shuffled across to close the space when Victor Moses went forward, and how N’Golo Kante and Nemanja Matic provided an effective shield.

- Jonathan Wilson

None of that was untrue, but increasingly this season it has come to be seen that what was really important about that Chelsea side was what was going on at the other end of the pitch; that the solid defensive base was a means to an end.

With Eden Hazard on the left, and either Pedro or Willian on the right, what were effectively two insideforwards thrived because the 3-4-2-1 set-up had them occupying pockets that lay outside the natural marking structure of an opponent: in that awkward zone outside and in front of the central defenders, inside the full-backs and outside the holding midfielder(s). Against a back three, they had the freedom to pullwide and attack the space behind the wing-backs.

The system was slightly restrictive in that the onus of creativity essentially lay on two players, but it was a neat resolution to the defensive need to maintain structure while avoiding the regimentation that can make attacks predictable.