What Chelsea’s average positions map vs Bournemouth tells us about their 3-4-2-1 formation

Xabi Alonso’s system has been a major talking point at Chelsea this season, with the Spaniard preferring a back three. Before pre-season, it was not quite clear which formation Alonso was going to go with.

Under Liam Rosenior and Enzo Maresca, Chelsea mostly used a back four, which is what Alonso also employed at Real Madrid. However, the 44-year-old used a back three at Bayer Leverkusen and achieved a lot of success by doing so.

So far, he has had mixed results with his 3-4-2-1 system at Chelsea, and before the international break, some fans were urging him to revert to a back four.