Our friends at Opta Sports Data look at the chances of Chelsea striker Drogba being benched for the FA Cup semi-final with Aston Villa.
For most managers, the question of whether you start a match with your top scorer is a no-brainer, but not so for Carlo Ancelotti.
Chelsea hitman Didier Drogba has been in lethal form this season, bagging 31 goals in all competitions, just two behind the top scorer in England, Wayne Rooney, however in spite of his prolific form, there are suggestions that Chelsea play better when he is not on the pitch, curiously scoring more goals in the league without their top scorer starting than with him:
| Chelsea: Premier League 2009/10 | ||
| With Drogba Starting | Without Drogba Starting | |
|
Games |
26 |
7 |
|
Wins |
16 |
7 |
|
Draws |
5 |
0 |
|
Losses |
5 |
0 |
|
Goals For |
57 |
27 |
|
Average Goals For |
2.19 |
3.86% |
|
Win % |
61.5% |
100% |
|
Points per game |
2.04 |
3 |
Chelsea have won all seven of the Premier League games that the Ivorian has not started this season, bagging 27 goals in these and hitting seven in two (vs Sunderland and Aston Villa). Though the majority of these games have come against supposedly “weaker” sides, Carlo Ancelotti will be considering his side’s performances in their last two matches, including the 2-1 win over Manchester United and the 7-1 demolition of Saturday’s rivals Villa, before picking his team this weekend.
The issue is perhaps linked to the quality of the chances that the Blues create for themselves without Drogba compared to with him: though they have averaged roughly the same number of shots per game without Drogba (16.6) as with him (16.4), their shot conversion rate has leapt from 13.4% with him to 23.3% when he's been absent.
The main beneficiary of Drogba’s absences appears to be Frank Lampard, who has scored nine of his 17 goals in the seven matches where the striker hasn’t started. With other players seeming to perform better in his top scorer’s absence and on the back of a 7-1 thrashing with this weekend’s opponents, Carlo Ancelotti finds himself with something of a selection dilemma before the FA Cup match at Wembley on Saturday.
