1 through ball all game – why Chelsea couldn't create centrally against Wolves

Yesterday at 07:00 AM

Chelsea got a 3-1 win yesterday but it wasn't their best performance.

In fact, they played significantly better in the first half against Bournemouth than they did last night against Wolves. They just took advantage of some shocking set piece defending last night, while against the Cherries the ball just wouldn't go in.

We're hardly going to complain about a 3-1 win after a run of 6 games without a league victory. But it's worth looking at what changed in that game.

Firstly there were personnel tweaks – Pedro Neto was pretty poor on his return to starting action out on the left wing. The absence of Levi Colwill stopped a good avenue of passing into midfield. Trevoh Chalobah and Tosin went long with some success, but couldn't filter balls centrally like Colwill can.

The whole team ended with just one through ball having been played all evening – it was unsuccessful.

Two key central creators out make it a long day for Chelsea

But much more of the issues came centrally due to the breakdown of a key avenue of attack in the team. With Enzo Fernandez out injured, the supply line from defence to attack in the middle was cut. Enzo Maresca's team was forced to attack much more by simply playing long diagonals and pushing Wolves back that way.

As well as missing Enzo's ability to create chances with through balls, Chelsea were effectively without Cole Palmer. The attacker is playing on an ankle injury, as Enzo Maresca confirmed, and he looked like it.

He didn't have much mobility, and wasn't getting forward into dangerous positions around the box like he would normally. The combination of his lack of fitness with Enzo's absence meant this was always going to be a tough day for Chelsea centrally and creatively.

We desperately hope Enzo is fit and Palmer recovered by Saturday.