Chelsea‘s wing-backs deserve a great deal of credit for the team’s recent performances because they are doing the “graveyard shift”, according to Paul Merson.
Blues manager Antonio Conte switched to play a 3-4-3 formation at the beginning of October, with Marcos Alonso and Victor Moses moved to play as wing-backs following the tactical shift.
Chelsea have won all five of their Premier League games, scoring 16 goals and conceding none, and former Arsenal winger Merson believes the hard work of the wing-backs is critically important to the team’s form.
“The three at the back is working for Chelsea, and I think the wing-backs have done great,” he told Sky Sports.
“But playing wing-back is the graveyard shift, it’s a hard job. You’re up and down, up and down all day, you have to be the full-back and the winger at the same time.
“I’d be shocked if Conte can get his wing-backs doing that week in, week out, and when they start getting tired, you start playing five at the back and getting overrun in midfield. If they can rotate their wing-backs, they can do anything.
“They’ve been outstanding since the Arsenal defeat, they have ripped teams apart. They made Everton look like a League Two team.”
Chelsea lost successive games to Liverpool and Arsenal at the end of September, prompting Conte to change formation in search for better form.
The change had an immediate effect, with wins of Hull City, Leicester City, Manchester United, Southampton and Everton moving Chelsea up to second in the Premier League table.
Alonso and Moses have both started every one of those five games, registering two assists and creating 15 chances as well as contributing to five successive clean sheets.
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