How Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea dominated the tactical Battle of the Bridge

A pulsating encounter between Chelsea and Tottenham at Stamford Bridge will be remembered for a late Spurs equaliser and a bust-up between the managers.

What might be quickly forgotten is the nature of the game itself. Chelsea were the better side for most of it, with Thomas Tuchel getting the better of Antonio Conte in the tactical battle — twice.

The key to the first half was the situation in midfield, where Mason Mount dropped in to find freedom between the lines, overloading Tottenham three-against-two in the centre.

Perhaps we should have seen this coming. A common theme from Conte’s time at Tottenham is how aggressively the central midfield duo pushes up when the opposition have the ball — most notably away at Manchester City last season — while Tuchel regularly “staggers” his midfield to make them difficult to press, as they look like something between a 3-4-3 and a 3-5-2.

And that’s what happened — Conte used his usual 3-4-3, and Tottenham played as if Chelsea were also using a 3-4-3. So Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg pushed up onto Jorginho while Rodrigo Bentancur concentrated on N’Golo Kante. So far, so good.

Spurs’ issue, though, was Mount — who played as a No 8 rather than in a front three, and was constantly free to receive forward passes. Spurs only had two midfielders, so who would close him down? On this occasion, it was the right-sided centre-back, Cristian Romero.

But a centre-back can’t play in midfield permanently, and it was remarkable to see how much space Mount was afforded. A couple of minutes later, he’s in 20 yards of space in the middle of the pitch.

Here’s a similar example…

…and here’s the same thing again, calling for a pass from the right.

Chelsea sometimes struggled to switch the ball to him laterally but the space he had made vertical passes very easy. Here, Kalidou Koulibaly has the simple task of poking the ball through the lines into him — note Emerson Royal throwing his arms out, asking who is supposed to be closing down Mount.

Here’s a similar situation — note Hojbjerg gesturing towards the unmarked Mount…

But Mount remained Romero’s responsibility. And, in fairness, there aren’t many Premier League centre-backs so happy to storm out of defence and close down high up the pitch.

Here, from another Koulibaly forward pass, Romero charges in on Mount, and though he manages to dispossess him, he overruns the ball himself and Chelsea regain possession…

…which shows the danger of Romero being bypassed. Raheem Sterling drifts out to the space behind him, and Chelsea can break into space. Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s pass, however, is played a little behind his Chelsea team-mate.

And this was the common theme of Chelsea’s first-half display. Tactically, they were excellent. Technically, they were disappointing, with their passing preventing them from breaking at speed.

Here’s another example. It’s the same thing again — Mount in space between the lines, and Koulibaly able to thread a simple ball to feet.

But Koulibaly’s pass here is poor. He could have slid it gently into the gap between the two Tottenham players, allowing Mount to receive the ball on the turn and ease into attack in a central position. Instead, Koulibaly fires the ball into Mount, and it bounces up on him…

… and as Mount receives the ball, you realise how effective a better pass might have been — Mount would have been running towards goal, with Romero pinned by Sterling. The defender would have been forced to make a quick decision, with Mount to confront but also Sterling, again, set to exploit the space behind him.

Mount, meanwhile, is too cautious in this situation, bringing the ball towards the left to work an overload, rather than seeking to cause Romero problems.

The final significant incident of the first half came when Mount received the ball in a central position and Eric Dier — in the middle of Spurs’ back three — pushes up the pitch to close him down.

Mount plays the ball past him…

… and as Chelsea attack down the right, and Dier sprints back into his defensive position, Mount again finds himself with huge freedom on the edge of the box. Again, this ball doesn’t come his way.

At half-time, Chelsea were 1-0 up thanks to Koulibaly’s stunning volley from a corner. But Spurs rallied midway through the second half — Conte’s switch to 4-2-4 following the introduction of Richarlison provided more attacking threat and eventually brought the equaliser, via Hojbjerg.

That formation change prompted a different type of tactical battle — and Tuchel surely got the better of this one, too.

Now Spurs were playing a back four, Chelsea could now look to exploit them in the usual manner — use their wing-backs to provide overloads on the outside. And that’s seemingly why Tuchel decided to make a slightly complex change: bringing on Cesar Azpilicueta for Jorginho. This meant Loftus-Cheek moved from wing-back to central…