Contrasting styles in defensive rebuilds as Chelsea face Tottenham in season’s first top-four encounter

By common consent, the Premier League’s top two last season are expected to be the Premier League’s top two this season. Man City and Liverpool were clear by a distance, again, but if that sounds dull then perhaps excitement comes behind them as the next pair of clubs increasingly look to improve enough to establish another gap between themselves and the rest of the challenging pack.

It won’t happen this weekend with Chelsea and Tottenham playing each other, meaning at least one being enforced into losing early ground.

In the short term Arsenal are comfortably best-placed to threaten to upset the quartet above them, as given the top clubs’ opening fixtures and when they match up against each other, the Gunners should reasonably be looking to be at or near the league’s summit around the half-dozen games mark. If it transpires that way, neither Antonio Conte or Thomas Tuchel will be overly concerned.

There are at least overlapping factors – if not always outright similarities – between those two managers and their teams, with the most important being their knack last season of finding enough consistency, enough capacity, to respond well to setbacks and be best of the rest. Another overlap is their summers spent making considerable improvements to their squad. And a third, perhaps the most intriguing of them in terms of dictating the on-pitch outcome on Sunday, is in their use of a back three and their very different methods of rebuilding it in the close season.

Chelsea’s summer has been driven, in part, by necessity. The Todd Boehly takeover toward the end of last season meant no contract renewals were plausible with Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen. That duo comprised half of the top four centre backs used by Tuchel in the Premier League last term, by game time, while a third – Cesar Azpilicueta – split his minutes between the middle and the flank. He was also, until a new contract signed recently, a potential summer exit, so at least two reinforcements were always required.

One is in, with Kalidou Koulibaly having the capacity to raise the level of the defence as a whole if he recaptures his top form of prior to last year.

Another option has been heralded in Marc Cucurella; a versatile performer and another expensive addition for sure, but it’s not an accident his best and most consistent run with Getafe came at left midfield in a 4-4-2. At his best he is an outlet, a ball-carrier, a supreme delivery merchant from out wide. Not a defensive aggressor, or even one to be the starting point of attacking moves from deep. So another arrival is a certainty, and again it will be a starting option who will doubtless cost huge money – even if Leicester do maintain their stance on Wesley Fofana.

The fees paid for Chelsea’s summer signings are, by and large, not ones paid for backups and squad fillers. It’s not a reshaping of the defensive quintet, but it might be a renaming of it.

Spurs, on the other hand, have opted for depth and potential for the most part rather than direct upgrades. Even then Conte has not made immediate changes, instead entrusting the start of the 22/23 campaign with those who ended the last.

Cristian Romero’s loan will surely eventually be made permanently, but Clement Lenglet can at best be considered competition for Ben Davies, comparing the Welshman’s level under Conte and the Frenchman’s career trajectory and inconsistency – to be kind – over the last few years.

Djed Spence and Ivan Perisic, as new wing back faces, are also having to bide their time early on.

“In the last 10 games [last season] we played really well and we had fantastic results,” Conte said after the opening weekend win over Southampton. “My message was very clear that I trust a lot in the old players and in this moment they are more reliable than the new players because they need to continue to work with us and continue to implement football knowledge.

“At the same time I am really happy because we have new signings that are going into our process and for sure they will help us to improve, but they have to know they have to fight.”

It can be expected that at least one makes their way into the line-up sooner or later, but loans, frees and youngsters whose fees rise considerably with future add-ons means a very different type of defensive teambuilding exercise is being undertaken in north London, compared to west.

In attack it’s more even – Raheem Sterling and Richarlison the expensive flagship additions – but both Tuchel and Conte focused primarily on organisation and solidity after taking over their respective roles, making their defensive additions more than a mere curiosity.

A little over a year ago, the sides drew 2-2 in a pre-season friendly – then Chelsea won all four competitive meetings last season. The most convincing came early on, before Nuno Espirito Santo was jettisoned. Spurs failed to score in any of the four, but more concerning to Conte was conceding eight.

The approach taken to defensive rebuilds by both teams this summer are an insight into not just circumstance, but the improvements both managers felt was a must to close the gap to the top two.

Whether it proves to be enough to do that is open to interpretation, but – with late additions still to come – both managers might be more confident about ensuring it keeps them ahead of their own challengers, and safely among Europe’s elite.