Graham Potter’s change to a again three has offered the platform for Chelsea’s current enchancment however it’s a query of personnel too. Wesley Fofana’s return has made a distinction.

The centre-back, a £75m signing from Leicester in August, has spent a lot of the season on the sidelines because of harm however Thiago Silva’s withdrawal towards Tottenham final month noticed him thrust again into the facet from the bench. He has began each recreation since.

Chelsea received the primary three of these video games, towards Leeds, Borussia Dortmund and Fofana’s former membership Leicester, they usually in all probability would have received the fourth, towards Everton, had he not been compelled off with what Potter termed “fatigue” within the closing levels.

Everton’s equaliser in that 2-2 draw got here from exactly the place Fofana had occupied two minutes earlier, with Trevoh Chalobah, his alternative, dragged too far large, and Kalidou Koulibaly left uncovered and unable to cease Ellis Simms amid the disarray.

Koulibaly acquired heavy criticism for the benefit with which he was overwhelmed by Simms however it’s value noting that, based on Opta, it was the primary and solely time he was dribbled previous all afternoon. His downside was that Fofana was now not there to supply safety.

The 22-year-old subsequently needed to be withdrawn from the France squad having acquired his first senior worldwide call-up after that recreation, however the hope for Chelsea is that he will probably be match to face Aston Villa on Saturday. Recent proof suggests they’ll want him.

Over the course of the marketing campaign, together with the 4 appearances he made earlier than struggling his knee harm in October, Chelsea have a document of six wins from eight video games with Fofana beginning, in comparison with solely 9 wins from 29 video games with out him.

His harm issues have been such that he stays one thing of an unknown amount to many Chelsea followers – “you don’t know how good this kid is yet,” quipped the Leicester-supporting Gary Lineker lately – however his significance isn’t misplaced on Potter.

“We’ve missed Wesley,” mentioned the Chelsea supervisor after Fofana marked his first begin in 5 months by scoring the one objective within the 1-0 victory over Leeds at Stamford Bridge earlier this month.

“He brings something different; physicality, he defends big spaces, he allows us to defend a little higher because he has the pace to recover. In the box, he can attack the ball well.”

Brendan Rodgers, his supervisor at Leicester, known as it “defending forward” in an interview with Sky Sports and Fofana typifies it.

“It is about anticipation, closing the pitch, sustaining attacks,” mentioned Rodgers. “You can be up there pressing but if [your centre-backs] are sat back on the halfway line then the pitch is too big.”

Fofana permits his group to deliver their line of defense ahead by being aggressive when anticipating hazard and timing his tackles and interceptions well, whereas, as talked about by Potter, additionally being fast and alert sufficient to cope with passes in behind.

There is knowledge to show it. According to Opta’s superior metrics, Chelsea have performed practically three meters additional up the pitch within the Premier League video games Fofana has began underneath Potter, their common begin distance – which measures how far upfield a group start their passing sequences – leaping from 41.7m to 44.3m.

That larger begin distance places them roughly according to Arsenal and Manchester City this season and, as with these two sides, it permits Chelsea to pin their opponents again and dominate them.

Chelsea discover that tougher when Fofana isn’t there and his skill to assault the ball is missed too. He has scored twice in solely 10 appearances this season. As nicely as his towering header towards Leeds earlier this month, there was a low end within the Champions League recreation with AC Milan in October following one other set-piece.

At the opposite finish, Chelsea have solely conceded three objectives in his final 481 minutes on the pitch, and simply as necessary as what he provides them inside the 2 packing containers is what he gives in between them.

Fofana is a contemporary centre-back who, to cite Potter, is “brave on the ball”, each when it comes to his distribution – he’s making extra passes within the opposition half per 90 minutes than another Chelsea centre-backs this season – and, crucially, by means of his ball-carrying.

Chelsea misplaced one thing in that regard with Antonio Rudiger’s departure to Real Madrid final summer season. The Germany defender’s rampaging ahead runs had develop into a characteristic of their play.

But Fofana has demonstrated the identical functionality, albeit on the other facet, taking part in, as he does, on the fitting, moderately than the left of Chelsea’s again three, and the statistics show it.

According to newly-available monitoring knowledge, the Frenchman the truth is ranks fourth of all gamers within the Premier League this season for carries per 90 minutes, behind solely Manchester City duo Jack Grealish and Bernardo Silva and Newcastle’s Allan Saint-Maximin.

A deeper take a look at the info – which defines a carry as a contact occasion the place a participant travels 10 meters or extra in possession of the ball – reveals he ranks third for defenders bypassed per 90 minutes by means of carries (7.8) and sixth for distance carried per 90 (233m).

His carries give Chelsea an additional dimension when making an attempt to interrupt down opposition defences.

Consider this Twenty eighth-minute instance within the win over Leeds.

Fofana receives Enzo Fernandez’s sq. move within the centre circle and instantly drives into the area in entrance of him.

His run attracts each Jack Harrison and Tyler Adams in the direction of him, concurrently releasing up Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Raheem Sterling.

Sterling is then in a position to obtain Fofana’s move in a pocket of area between the strains as Loftus-Cheek makes an untracked run on the surface, giving Chelsea the possibility to breach the Leeds defence.

There was an identical instance within the second half of the identical recreation, as proven under.

Fofana once more picks up possession simply inside his personal half, and once more opts to hold the ball ahead moderately than search an early move.

By doing so, he once more attracts Adams out of place earlier than timing his move so his team-mate, this time Fernandez, is ready to flip into area within the last third, creating one other harmful state of affairs.

Fofana normally drops again into place as soon as he has launched the ball following a carry however on some events he continues his run, his presence excessive up the pitch giving Chelsea an additional physique in assault and enabling them to catch their opponents abruptly.

There was an instance towards Crystal Palace earlier within the season.

Fofana is as soon as once more instantly on the entrance foot having acquired Thiago Silva’s move, accelerating into the area in entrance of him and taking two Palace gamers out of the sport as he drives between Odsonne Edouard and Wilfried Zaha.

From there, he lays the ball off to Sterling to his proper and continues to cost ahead, untracked, giving Chelsea an overload on the left-hand facet of the Crystal Palace field.

This mixture with Sterling could possibly be seen within the win over Leeds, too, with Fofana once more carrying the ball ahead, as proven under, then taking part in a sq. move to his team-mate earlier than working into a spot between two defenders to present the choice of a move in behind.

So, similtaneously permitting Chelsea to alter the way in which they defend, Fofana provides Potter an extra weapon in assault.

It is simply one more reason why, regardless of his restricted involvement, the Frenchman is uniquely necessary to the Chelsea supervisor.

It stays to be seen whether or not he will probably be out there for the go to of Aston Villa on Saturday. But what is definite is that Chelsea are a distinct proposition with Fofana within the group.

Watch Chelsea vs Aston Villa stay on Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports Main Event from 4.30pm on Saturday; kick-off 5.30pm