As Chelsea, Man City and West Ham show, three at back is reaping rewards in Premier League

Chelsea defender David Luiz, here celebrating a goal against Southampton last week, has been among the benefactor's of manager Antonio Conte's tactical switch to three defensive backs. Glyn Kirk / AFP

It will be a rarity. English football’s adherence to the back four is institutionalised, its suspicion of a back three somewhat parochial. Even many of its managerial imports, from Arsene Wenger and Pep Guardiola to Jurgen Klopp and Mauricio Pochettino, tend to be more British than the Brits in their fondness for a four-man rearguard.

Yet on Saturday, the majority of the Premier League’s home teams could line up with three central defenders. Certain to do so are Chelsea and West Ham United, clubs who have turned their seasons around by switching from 4-2-3-1 to 3-4-2-1. Manchester City represent the wild card. Even when Pep Guardiola fields four defenders, there are often only three at the back. In their last two home league games, City have played 3-2-4-1.

The Catalan is more cavalier. He uses wingers where Antonio Conte and Slaven Bilic have wingbacks. His is a more proactive approach. If he can win the ball back higher up the field, he argued last week, he can stop attacks at source. He experimented out of ambition, his Chelsea and West Ham counterparts out of necessity. They patched up faulty defences and, in Bilic’s case, addressed the problem of failing full-backs, by adopting a policy of safety in numbers: instead of two centre-backs, three.

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Chelsea have not conceded in four league games with a new formation. West Ham have only let in two in three matches. A newfound solidity has enabled them to provide a platform for progress. A shift in responsibilities has benefited creative sparks.

Eden Hazard and Dimitri Payet are no longer deployed on the left wing, expected to track back with wingers. Now each is one of twin No 10s, with their defensive duties lessened by the presence of seven teammates behind them. Different angles are created, inventive players positioned in space between the lines where, traditionally, English teams can find opponents elusive. Now, instead of one No 10 to track, they have two.

The usual argument for fielding three centre-backs is that it permits a manager to select a strike duo without being outnumbered in the centre of midfield. Now there has been a shift in thinking: instead, an extra inside-forward is accommodated.

Perhaps Brendan Rodgers may be deemed a pioneer. Two seasons ago, he effected a turnaround at Liverpool by introducing a 3-4-2-1 formation rival managers initially found hard to combat. There were two significant elements: the alliance of Adam Lallana and Philippe Coutinho, both attacking midfielders in a more fluid forward unit, and the way he had a numerical advantage in the centre of midfield.

It is a prerequisite for managers like Rodgers and Guardiola who want to dominate possession. When others had two, they wanted three. Now more teams have three, they want four. The midfield triangle has been replaced by the diamond — which is being used by Southampton’s Claude Puel — or, at Chelsea, West Ham and City, the rectangle. In Guardiola’s case, it allows him to field four of his favourite players in preferred positions: Fernandinho and Ilkay Gundogan at the base of the midfield, David Silva and Kevin de Bruyne ahead of them in roles the Belgian has described as a “free eight”.

Guardiola, a nemesis of one-dimensional centre-backs and strikers, wants players to have a midfielder’s skill set. A 3-2-4-1 system allows him to select six midfielders. It prompts the question of how to combat the sextet.

Everton’s Ronald Koeman found an answer of sorts. The Dutchman began the season playing 3-4-2-1 himself. He started with 4-2-3-1 at the Etihad Stadium but then countered his former Barcelona teammate Guardiola’s formation by to a midfield diamond.

Koeman takes on Conte on Saturday. He may reprise that ploy in a bid to halt the new fad.

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