Stoke City tactics

Mark Hughes probably wanted to test Chelsea’s nerves given all their off-field problems because he detailed his charges to adopt a high tempo start in the opening exchanges.

Once the game settled down, Stoke operated in a 4-2-3-1 formation with the intention of bypassing Chelsea’s high pressing defensive system by starting things off with long balls towards Jonathan Walters.

The attacking midfielders – Bojan Krkic, Marko Arnautovic and Xherdan Shaqiri – converged on the centre forward looking to win second balls and keep play in the offensive half.

When Stoke had good possession in the attacking half, Glenn Whelan and Charlie Adam remained as holding midfielders to allow the forwards to safely express themselves.

Xherdan Shaqiri and Marko Arnautovic worked as inverted wingers collecting the ball from the sides, with Shaqiri looking to isolate Baba Rahman down Stoke’s right flank while Arnautovic occasionally made diagonal runs inside to support the centre forward.

Bojan Krkic attacked as the number 10, linking up play centrally and releasing cute balls into the channels for the other forwards. Walters completed the offensive formation as the centre forward providing a target in the box.

When Stoke had to defend, they dropped into their own half, with Walters leading the defending from the halfway line. Bojan defended from the top of a central midfield triangle that included Whelan and Adam, while Arnautovic and Shaqiri protected the Potters’ full-backs from the sides.


Chelsea tactics

Chelsea retained their back-four from the Champions League win over Dynamo Kiev. The Blues also kept Nemanja Matic, who was impressive in that midweek encounter. The plan was to work the ball patiently then allow the attacking midfielders to freely float in the offensive-third with positional rotation.

Matic and Ramires started at the base of midfield, with Matic collecting the ball from defenders to initiate attacks while the attacking midfielders dropped to help the Serbian link-up play centrally. Ramires frequently made late third-man midfield runs forward to support the forwards, with Matic as the main sitter.

Willian started as the central attacking midfielder, with Eden Hazard and Pedro coming off the flanks, but the Blues’ attacking midfielders occasionally interchanged positions by overloading one area to link up and create chances.

Costa started as the mobile centre forward, providing a target for long balls when it was not safe to play out from the back. The Spain striker also made his favoured runs into the inside left channel to find space and drag central defenders out of position.

The champions defended with a high pressing approach, with Willian and Costa leading the pressing in Stoke’s half. Hazard and Pedro worked from the sides of midfield, while Matic and Ramires double-pivoted in central midfield to protect the defenders.


Key tactical changes

Chelsea dominated the opening half. They created good chances with the fluid movement of their forwards. The champions also defended Stoke’s direct play well, with Matic and the defenders combining well to win aerial duels against Walters.

That resulted in the Blues creating double the chances that Stoke managed in the first-half and it seemed like a matter of time before the visitors took the lead. The game got fractious at the start of the second-half with a couple of heated incidences.

That period took the momentum from Chelsea; they lost their defensive solidity with Shaqiri tormenting Rahman with increased frequency. The Potters created their chance from Rahman’s flank and took the lead.

The Chelsea management took Rahman off and moved Cesar Azpilicueta, a better man-marker, to the left flank in the 70th minute. Cesc Fabregas joined Matic at the base of midfield to add quality in the Blues’ offensive work, while Oscar came on, too, initially to assume the number ten position.

Stoke countered that by simultaneously switching to a compact 4-5-1 formation with defender Geoff Cameron joining Glenn Whelan as defensive midfielders just in front of the back four. Adam worked just in front of that pair as an extra holding midfielder.

Chelsea struggled to break that compact defensive unit so they ended up sacrificing a defender to allow Loic Remy to add more presence up top by joining Costa as a pair of centre forwards.

That meant the Blues completed the game in a 3-5-2 formation, with Matic, Oscar and Fabregas as central midfielders while Hazard and Willian were high wing-backs.

Stoke were under pressure in that last period and they needed luck in some occasions but the Potters had enough to see the game out.