Chelsea Fan View: Eden Hazard and Willian must be allowed to continue developing their partnership

With six key players missing for Chelsea in the match against Brighton on Saturday, few were expecting the 4-0 thumping dished out by the Blues. More than that, Chelsea exhibited fluidity and clinical finishing that has been sadly absent for the last five matches.

Had Thibaut Courtois, Gary Cahill, Cesc Fabregas, Danny Drinkwater, Alvaro Morata and Pedro been available, there is little doubt that manager Antonio Conte would have selected four or five of them to start against Brighton and most probably in a 3-5-2 formation.

The reality is that his starting eleven was hardly a ‘B’ team and somewhat belied the claims that Chelsea’s squad lacks depth. The only two players who were perhaps fortunate to start were misfiring striker Michy Batshuayi and reserve goalkeeper Willy Caballero. Chelsea’s defence for example, apart from Caballero, was arguably the fans’ preferred option of Cesar Azpilicueta, Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger.

For the last few weeks, many supporters, including me, have made the case for playing four in midfield rather than five and for playing Willian with Hazard behind the striker. Recently Chelsea have looked ponderous in midfield and attack and there has been a suspicion that playing three midfielders against inferior opposition is too defensively minded. Hazard, too, has appeared to be isolated and outnumbered when playing on his own behind the striker.

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Football is a situation game and the best plans often arise out of circumstance rather than design. Conte found himself in the situation where his likely candidates to partner the imperious N’Golo Kante were down to just Tiemoue Bakayoko. With Pedro unavailable, the option of playing Hazard as a false nine, as he has done previously, disappeared. Playing two in midfield with two wingbacks (his only option) allowed him to play Willian with Hazard.

The results were stunning and Chelsea put in an attacking performance that the supporters have been crying out for. Perhaps I am not giving Conte due credit, after all he is a very good coach. Maybe he would have changed the formation and personnel anyway. I guess we’ll never know.

Of course, football is not just down to tactics and formations. Ultimately it is about the players on the pitch performing at their best. Two players have been subject to a great deal of criticism recently: Batshuayi and Bakayoko.

Many have argued that one of the reasons for Bakayoko’s recent poor performances has been his inability to play together with Kante and Fabregas, or more to the point play in a role which requires him to ‘mind’ Fabregas. He has often seemed confused as to whether he can roam forward or should stick to his defensive responsibilities. As a result he’s done neither very well. But liberated from this confusion he put in one of his best performances for weeks.

Rather than toiling up front on his own where he has found it impossible to hold the ball up and bring his team mates in to the game, let alone score, Batshuayi looked a far better player with Hazard and Willian buzzing around him. Sadly he failed to score and it was a long way from a complete striker’s performance, but he was involved with the sublime second goal scored by Willian and his running in to space and link up play was far more intelligent than we have seen recently.

But the real joy of this match was the interplay between Hazard and Willian. Some of their one touch play was sublime, the second goal in particular. Every time one of them picked up the ball on the halfway line and ran at Brighton, it looked like Chelsea would score. Instead of ponderous, side to side build up play, we saw Hazard or Willian running at defences, quick one touch passing and flicks, slide rule passes into space. Best of all was the quality of the finishing with both Hazard and Willian putting away their chances with aplomb.

On a day like Saturday we saw the best of Hazard and there were times during the game where he looked almost unplayable. But do not underestimate the role that Willian played in helping to get the best out of him. Watching the two of them play together behind the striker was a joy to behold.

The intriguing question is whether or not Conte has taken note of this and whether he will trust a four man midfield against better opposition. More to the point, if it takes Willian partnering Hazard up front to open the floodgates and get Chelsea scoring again, I for one hope that we see this formation used more frequently in the remainder of the season.

David Chidgey @StamfordChidge

David Chidgey presents the award winning Chelsea FanCast podcast which can be heard live every Monday at 19.00 at mixlr.com/chelsea-fancast/ or downloaded from Acast, ITunes, Soundcloud or chelseafancast.com @ChelseaFanCast