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Chelsea will try to put their FA Cup heartbreak behind them and try to secure a top 4 spot as they host Leicester City today.
Chelsea and Leicester City will take on each other in a second high-stakes match in the span of four days. The race for Champions League qualification has intensified in recent weeks with Liverpool breathing down the necks of both Chelsea and Leicester City.
Leicester City are third in the Premier League table with 66 points while Chelsea are close behind with 64. Liverpool have 63 points and tonight's result will have huge ramifications for all three clubs.
Leicester City beat Chelsea in the FA Cup final on Saturday. Despite all the improvement that the Blues have shown under Thomas Tuchel, they run the risk of letting slip the opportunity to qualify for the Champions League. If Chelsea lose or draw, then Liverpool can move to fourth place with a win against Burnley on Wednesday.
But Chelsea are one of the strongest units in the English top-flight and will be seeking retribution when they host the Foxes today. Without further ado, let's take a look at five reasons why Chelsea could beat Leicester City today.
#5 Leicester City's focus could be off after big FA Cup win
Leicester City won their first major trophy since winning the Premier League in the 2015-16 season this past Saturday. The scenes that unfolded at Wembley after the final whistle show how much it meant to the Foxes. They came into the match second-favourites and had to work their guts out to keep the Blues at bay.
They will be tasked with doing the same yet again with a Champions League spot at stake. However, Leicester City might find the game coming too soon for them after their FA Cup triumph. Following the celebrations on Saturday and Sunday, they would have had just a little more than a day to prepare for the trip to West London.
Chelsea, on the other hand, will be well-rested and baying for blood. A win here won't taste as sweet as winning the FA Cup but it will come pretty close given what's at stake.
#4 Chelsea's squad depth
Chelsea have incredible squad depth. They have a batch of versatile players as well and this affords Thomas Tuchel the opportunity to be flexible with his starting XI. Mateo Kovacic could be available again after missing 10 matches due to a hamstring problem which could be a major boost for Chelsea.
The likes of Christian Pulisic and Kai Havertz have been in good form but did not start the FA Cup final. The same goes for the likes of Ben Chilwell, Edouard Mendy and Kurt Zouma. As is evident, Chelsea can put out a new look starting XI who can be just as effective as the players who started the game on Saturday.
This means that despite having to play their second game in four days, Chelsea will be well-rested and fatigue won't really be a factor in their performance today.
#3 Chelsea's home record under Thomas Tuchel
Chelsea have been quite formidable at Stamford Bridge under Thomas Tuchel and will look to build on that against Leicester City today. The Blues have lost just thrice at home since the German coach took over. The first defeat at home came against West Bromwich Albion but Chelsea were reduced to 10-men as early as the 29th minute of that match.
Their second defeat at Stamford Bridge came against Porto in the second-leg of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final tie. Though they lost the game 1-0, the Blues won the tie 2-1 on aggregate. Their third loss at home came against Arsenal last week and the lone goal that Arsenal scored came from a horrendous Jorginho back pass.
Chelsea fans are set to return to Stamford Bridge for the club's final home game of the season. Only Chelsea fans will be allowed inside the stadium and this will be a huge boost for the team.
#2 Thomas Tuchel will have learned from his mistakes
Thomas Tuchel made a couple of tweaks to his system in the final against Leicester City. He had Cesar Azpilicueta playing at right wing-back while Reece James played at centre-back. The latter was tasked with curtailing the threat posed by Jamie Vardy but it seriously curbed Chelsea's effectiveness going forward.
While Vardy's pace will worry the likes of Azpilicueta and Thiago Silva, Tuchel could just opt to field Kurt Zouma in the backline and push Reece James out to the wing where he belongs.
Tuchel's cautious approach proved to be counter-productive even though James was effective in defense. He used Marcos Alonso on the left-wing instead of Chilwell and as a result, Chelsea did not have pace on the flanks.
Despite Tuchel making some poor decisions, Leicester City were able to score just a single goal. Today is a great chance for Tuchel to learn from his mistakes and play more to their strengths than to the opposition's.
#1 Jamie Vardy's form and Leicester City's over-reliance on Tielemans and Iheanacho
Jamie Vardy has scored just two goals since the turn of the year. He has scored just two goals in his last 25 appearances and this is perhaps the worst run of form the Englishman has experienced since taking the Premier League by storm five years ago.
James Maddison has been in poor form as well and this has caused Leicester to be over-reliant on the likes of Kelechi Iheanacho and Youri Tielemans. If Chelsea can do a better job of containing Tielemans and they can shut Iheanacho out like they did in the FA Cup final, Leicester City will struggle.
