Chelsea made it three wins in a row in all competitions, beating Leicester 1-0 at Stamford Bridge, following their previous two victories against Copenhagen and Southampton.
Enzo Maresca’s side have had to adapt in recent weeks with the likes of Nicolas Jackson, Noni Madueke and Marc Guiu missing in attack, but also Roméo Lavia missing in midfield, which has led to some reshuffling from the Italian in order to strike balance in the side.
This has seen Pedro Neto playing a new role as a centre-forward, and he isn’t the only one to feature in a new position.
Chelsea has had players capable of doing this in the past, stars capable of being a Swiss army knife for their manager and offering tactical solutions when needed in different positions. We notably saw that under José Mourinho in his first spell at the club where Michael Essien covered two positions on the pitch.
Michael Essien's unique role at Chelsea
Essien joined Chelsea in 2005, signing from Lyon for a fee of around £24.4m.
In his nine years at the club, the midfielder was a rock, making 256 appearances, scoring 25 goals, providing 20 assists and totalling 20,303 minutes played in total.
The Ghana international was known as a central midfielder but had the ability and versatility to solve problems for his managers, playing as a right-back, left-back, right-midfielder, centre-back, left-midfielder and even once as a centre-forward.
Under Mourinho at Chelsea, Essien played a variety of roles, often starting some games in defensive midfield and others at right-back when it was needed.
So, why is this relevant now? Well, Chelsea could have their next Essien who gives Maresca the ability to problem-solve and make tweaks to the game plan.
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Chelsea's new Essien
When assessing players in the squad with similar attributes, the tough-tackling Moises Caicedo immediately comes to mind. However, in this instance, we’re not talking about him.
Club captain Reece James came through the Chelsea academy, joining the Blues when he was six years old.
The full-back has already made 170 appearances for the club, scoring 13 goals, providing 23 assists and totalling 11,683 minutes, now finding himself as the skipper.
Unfortunately, the 25-year-old has been riddled with injuries throughout his early career, missing 132 games already, sustaining 21 different injuries and missing a total of 742 days.
This has seen a slight transition from the flying wing-back he once was, as Chelsea are now looking to prioritise his fitness and availability.
Goals
0.19
0.24
Assists
0.31
0.12
xG
0.14
0.03
xAG
0.26
0.04
Progressive Carries
2.50
0.75
Progressive Passes
6.88
5.52
Key Passes
2.19
1.04
Tackles + Interceptions
2.73
2.00
Blocks
0.85
1.49
Aerial Duels Won
0.92
2.84
Under Thomas Tuchel, you can see during the 2021/22 season the type of player James was, flying in attacking areas, providing attacking threat and output for the side, whilst still having the athleticism to recover in defensive transitions too.
However, Maresca has stated, “I see Reece as a midfielder. Since day one”. This new role for James, whether he starts in central midfield, or inverts in there from right-back, allows him to stay more central, having fewer high-intensity sprints in the game up and down the channels.
His leadership, physicality and comfortability on the ball are very useful in central areas for this inexperienced Chelsea side, as he provides a key component to their spine.
Joe Cole has even said he wants “world-class” star, James, back in the England squad, off the back of his recent performances.
James coming into midfield in recent weeks has allowed Maresca to experiment on the right side of the pitch, allowing Gusto to overlap in attacking areas from right-back with the defensive solidity behind him of James, whilst also giving Enzo Fernández a more free role in midfield, to roam and create in different areas.
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