A welcome return
With Kalidou Koulibaly suspended following his red card against Leeds United, there was always going to be a change in the Chelsea defence. The question was how Thomas Tuchel would cover the absence of the Senegal international on the left of his central defensive three.
The answer? Start with a back four and bring in Trevoh Chalobah for his first appearance of the campaign. The 23-year-old had watched on from the substitutes' bench against Everton, Tottenham Hotspur and Leeds United but was brought in to play alongside Thiago Silva and next to Reece James.
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"It was an easy decision for us," Tuchel said ahead of the game. "He feels a little bit the pressure of a different role for him this season. Last year he came into the side as something of an underdog, a challenger trying to break into the side because nobody knew too much of what he could offer.
"Now I have a feeling he is growing as a player and he's putting a lot of pressure and expectation on himself. This is a normal progression for a young player like Trevoh and we have the belief in him. Today is his chance to show this and usually, we can always rely on him to perform."
That proved the case. In the opening 45 minutes, Chalobah's main duty was to progress the ball, something he has shown he can do without a great deal of hassle. But with Chelsea reduced to ten men midway through the first half, Tuchel opted to make a change at the interval and shift the academy graduate over to the left of a back three.
Chalobah handled the switch well and was an important figure as Chelsea fought to hold on to the lead given to them by Raheem Sterling. His only error came late on when Jamie Vardy beat him to a long ball forward and rounded Edouard Mendy. Fortunately, the Leicester striker missed the target.
With Wesley Fofana's signing expected to be confirmed in the next 48 hours, Chalobah's battle for first-team minutes will only become harder. But he showed against Leicester that he can be trusted – and the Blues are still yet to lose a Premier League game that he has started.
Tuchel's watching brief
An interesting subplot to any Chelsea game is Tuchel's demeanour and behaviour on the touchline. Yet another Leicester, he wasn't there. Instead, he was sitting in the plush stands in the middle tier of the East Stand as he served his touchline ban for his part in the post-match dispute with Antonio Conte following the draw with Tottenham.
In Tuchel's absence, it was left to assistants Arno Michels, Zsolt Low and Anthony Barry to oversee proceedings at pitch level. None of the trio are quite as animated – or perhaps agitated – as Tuchel and that was clear early into the first half when Conor Gallagher was shown the first of his two yellow cards.
The decision was a harsh one but instead of one of Tuchel's assistants taking umbrage with the fourth official, it was club captain Cesar Azpilicueta who came off the substitutes' bench to complain about the booking. The Spaniard remonstrated for a few moments before being ushered back to his seat.
Tuchel was able to speak to his players at the half-time interval but cut a far more sedate figure; the separation certainly made a difference to his emotional investment. "It’s unusual not to have the influence directly from the sideline but we made the best of it," said Tuchel after the game. "It was well organised and I am happy that we got the win.
"I had the chance to be in the dressing room before and at half time. For the Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi, I was here at the training ground isolated [after testing positive for Covid]. You cannot compare. I was in the stadium, I felt the atmosphere, I could see the team, the position to analyse the match was very good."
Gallagher's difficult start
Every journey to the Chelsea first team is different. Gallagher's started at eight years old and involved more than a decade in the academy and loans at Charlton Athletic, Swansea City, West Bromwich Albion and Crystal Palace.
It was with the latter that Gallagher proved to Tuchel that he belonged at Chelsea, the club he – and his family – have long supported. When he made his debut against Everton, it was a special moment. As was his first outing against Stamford Bridge against Tottenham.
Both of those appearances came off the bench. His first start came last week at Elland Road and it wasn't an easy afternoon for Gallagher and Chelsea. He would have hoped for better having kept his place in Chelsea's midfield for Leicester's visit. Unfortunately, it didn't go as hoped.
Gallagher was booked early on – somewhat harshly – and then was shown a second yellow card for stopping Harvey Barnes launch a counterattack. It was a poor challenge, one the 22-year-old didn't have to make, but the lead-up to the foul was equally poor on Chelsea's part.
It stemmed from a Chelsea corner delivered by Marc Cucurella. The ball didn't clear the first man and was headed back to the Spaniard. On the volley, the full-back attempted to play a pass to Mason Mount but got it all wrong and allowed Barnes to race onto the ball before he was stopped by Gallagher.
Cucurella's frustration for his part in the dismissal was clear as he jumped on the spot twice in anger and Tuchel also highlighted that Gallagher wasn't solely to blame after the match. "Of course, he knows it was a huge mistake," the Chelsea head coach said. "We spoke briefly after the game and things like this can happen.
"It's not purely his fault alone because it's a set-piece for us and it's sloppy how we take set-pieces at the moment. “We lack belief and precision. We can speak it out clearly. It’s not good enough how we take set-pieces at the moment and on top of it, we give chances away.
"We are sloppy on the coverage, bad with the decision making how we cover the set-pieces. We have to stop doing tis and improve immediately. We are on it with the team and I don’t know why it happened again.
“At the end of this chain is a decision that brings such a huge disadvantage after 25 minutes. It’s a very, very bad decision from Conor and, of course, he is upset. Everybody was upset in this moment because it almost kills the whole football match."
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