Brighton – Chelsea: Late Jahanbakhsh’s Wondergoal Seals an Outstanding Brighton Comeback (1-1)
Jahanbakhsh’s spectacular bicycle kick ultimately drew what was a tactically rich game conditioned heavily by Brighton’s changes in midfield. In the first half, Chelsea initially dominated by exploiting the narrowness of Brighton’s midfield diamond, until Potter shifted his team to a flat 4-4-2 shape when defending and evened out the tables. During the second half, the quality of Chelsea’s forwards threatened the Brighton goal constantly until Potter deployed Jahanbakhsh and switched to a more direct attack with four forwards.
Tactical analysis and match report by José Perez.
Coach Frank Lampard has created a vibrant Chelsea side who thrive in high-tempo games with lots of transitions and have become one of the top four attacks in the league as per underlying numbers. Defense, though, remains a bit of a problem. Over this tough holiday period, Lampard tried to address the issue by using a 3-4-3 shape with three center-backs to reinforce Chelsea’s defense of the box. This game plan came at the expense of midfield control and pressing, which severely hindered their first half performance against Arsenal this past weekend.
Lampard switched back to four defenders and a 4-3-3 shape during the Arsenal game and decided to keep this game plan against Brighton. The starting lineup only saw three changes with respect to the eleven that faced Arsenal: Reece James . . .
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