The last time Chelsea took on Tottenham Hotspur in December Frank Lampard made an uncanny decision to play with a three-man backline and some experts believe that the manager could once again use the same formation when these two teams meet on Saturday.
And the Chelsea boss was asked this very same question at the Blues’ Cobham training ground on Friday afternoon.
‘You always try and prepare and let the players know how we want to approach games,’ the manager said in his pre-match briefing.
‘There can be small tweaks, there can be bigger ones, like we did against Tottenham, but every game is different. It’s a different game to the one we took on when we went to Tottenham. At that time, they were playing in a slightly different way.
‘That day it was pleasing. We had a worked a lot of it in the week. I didn’t invent three at the back, but the players implemented it.
‘It’s one of the things you really enjoy about being a manager. This Premier League is the best in the world for it: there are styles of all sorts.
“You come up against Brighton there’s a style, you come up against Burnley there’s a style, and when you come up against Tottenham there’s a certain style.
‘It doesn’t mean we will go out and play the same way as we did at Tottenham and that will just work. It might look slightly different.’
Verdict on Chelsea formation:
The last time these sides met, Chelsea came out 2-0 winners and Son saw a red card.
In that game, Lampard chose to use Rudiger, Zouma and Tomori in the backline but we don’t think that the manager will use the same tactics on Saturday primarily cause they will be playing at home this time around and on top of that, the Lilywhites will be without the likes of Harry Kane and Son both of whom are injured.
So playing at home, the Blues would want to make a statement of intent especially after losing to Manchester United last weekend.
