Hull City 0-2 Chelsea: A clean sheet, switch in formation and an important three points.

Chelsea beat Hull City 2-0 on Saturday afternoon and in doing so, picked up an all-important three points. A tactical switch from Antonio Conte paid off in this one and gives Chelsea a base to build from.

After two disappointing defeats against Liverpool and Arsenal, it was important that Chelsea bounced back in this one. Both were really bad defensive performances and it was clear that something had to change because we were far too open and exposed at the back.

As we had seen in the second half against Arsenal, Antonio Conte had no hestitation in switching his defence to a back three. On that occasion it was a combination of Ivanovic, Cahill and Luiz. As the team sheet was revealed to take on Hull, as expected he chose to start with a three centre-back combination but somewhat surprisingly, with Cesar Azpilicueta alongside David Luiz and Gary Cahill with Branislav Ivanovic dropped to the bench.

Victor Moses was drafted into the side as a right wing back with Marcos Alonso on the left hand side. Nemanja Matic continued alongside N’Golo Kante with Eden Hazard and Willian supporting Diego Costa. Despite looking on paper as a 3-5-2 formation, We adopted a 3-4-3 formation which against the so-called bigger sides could be a dangerous approach.

Despite a few dodgy moments early on, Chelsea looked to have a much better balance, players knew their defensive roles and up front, we looked like much more of a threat once again.

The players to a man played better than they have done in recent weeks, we created chances and Victor Moses proved to be much more of an influence down our right hand side that Ivanovic would ever be!

It’s early days and there is plenty to work on to improve but we picked up a clean sheet, which was important. Our big players turned up and played well and Diego Costa kept his impressive start to the season going with another well taken goal to double the lead awarded to us through a cool finish by Willian into the top corner an hour into the game.

Timing is against us as the majority of the players now travel with their National teams for ten days. Antonio Conte could be onto something tactically here but until we get through games against our top four rivals, to see how it plays out, it’s too early to judge.

However, the positive we take from the game is the clean sheet, a better overall performance and an all-important three points. It was not perfect, there is plenty to improve but we have time on our side.

This was a good solid win and three points. Next up Leicester on 15th October and we need to play better again to beat them.

Carefree!