Chelsea welcome Barcelona at Stamford Bridge this Tuesday in a five-game unbeaten run across all competitions.
This recent stretch has taken the Blues to second in the Premier League, six points behind leaders Arsenal. Surprisingly, the one time they’ve dropped points was arguably in the easiest game on paper, against Qarabag in the Champions League.
Still, they’ve been dominating teams more often than not recently. And though that mught not be the case against Barcelona, there is still reason for optimism.
What could be Chelsea’s path to victory against Barcelona?
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Manipulating Barcelona’s high line
At this point, everyone knows about Hansi Flick’s high line. It has been one of the main talking points surrounding his style of play since his Bayern Munich days.
Luckily for Chelsea, they could take advantage of it without changing too much of what they do. For that, Joao Pedro is key.
It’s the perfect opportunity to start him as the lone striker instead of having him play behind Liam Delap. His natural movement of dropping deep could be the key in attracting Barcelona centre-backs and breaking the defensive line.
One difference, however, lies in the use of the wingers in that scenario. Enzo Maresca usually likes them providing width rather than occupying more central spaces. But their inside movement could unlock Chelsea’s attacking potential. Joao Pedro is good at spotting diagonal runs and needs that as an option to make Barcelona pay for sitting high up the pitch.
Of course they will expect that, so it’s easier said than done. Maresca himself has said it in a press conference: “The high line is a factor for sure, but I think we need to pay attention also off the ball. (…) We need the right balance between attacking and defending.”
Which leads us to the next point.
Back-line flexibility
Barcelona like to line-up in a 3-2-5 on the ball and stretch the opposition as much as they can. Chelsea, on the other hand, don’t usually defend in a back-three or a back-five. But the versatility from many of their players could help them in this regard.
Reece James and Malo Gusto, specifically, could be key here. Both of them switch between right-back and defensive-midfielders duties often, so they’re comfortable spending time in more crowded areas.
While the Blues are sitting in their own half without the ball – which could be most of the time -, one of them could turn into a third centre-back, with the other remaining as a right-wing-back. The idea would be to form a back-five and counter Barcelona’s line of five upfront.
Of course, for that to work, they would need Maresca to field Enzo Fernandez in the number 10 role. The Argentine has done that mostly in ‘big games’, against Tottenham, Liverpool and Bayern. This way, he could drop deep to form a double pivot with Moises Caicedo and their usual 4-2-3-1 would then turn into a 5-2-3/5-4-1.
Importance of Marc Cucurella
Marc Cucurella will have a big role in this game – and not just tactically. He’ll be tasked with marking fellow Spaniard and Barcelona No.10 Lamine Yamal, their biggest attacking threat. But he also needs to try to get the 18-year-old out of the game mentally.
His ability to frustrate opponents and get inside their heads could be huge. And tactically speaking, chances are Yamal is going to spend most of his time in the right wing.
Only three times in his 12 games this season across all competitions has Yamal had more than 10 touches in the central corridor from open play. That was an issue in the El Clasico that it took Hansi Flick’s assistant Marcus Sorg around 75 minutes to correct. By then, it was already too late.
No doubt this will be a tough challenge for Chelsea and Enzo Maresca. But considering how vulnerable Barcelona have been lately (only one clean sheet in their last 11 games), this could be their best chance to beat the Spanish giants.
It would require a few adjustments, like any other game, but it’s definitely not out of the picture and crucially, all these tweaks fit within Maresca’s existing principles.