Chelsea manager Antonio Conte has revealed that his change to a three-man defence was his fourth preference at the beginning of the season.
Chelsea had started strongly if not a little unconvincingly, winning their opening three Premier League games before going through something of a slump, drawing at Swansea before losing to title rivals Liverpool and Arsenal.
The latter result, a 3-0 defeat at the Emirates, was the last fans have seen of Chelsea with a back four, with Conte switching to a team with three centre-backs and two wing-backs for their next game against Hull City, which they won 2-0.
Since the change of formation, the Blues are yet to concede a goal in the Premier League, picking up handsome victories over Leicester, Manchester United and Everton. Speaking toChelsea's official club website, Conte confirmed he had initially not planned on utilising a three-man defence.
"We started the season with another system because the idea in my mind was that I wanted to play with the 4-2-4, and then we switched with 4-3-3 and we played also in the same way like last year, 4-2-3-1," Conte explained.
"But I noticed in some circumstances we didn't have the right balance because when you concede more goals than your opponent and even more chances to score a goal, it is never a good thing. For this reason, we switched to the new system of 3-4-3 and I think this is a good fit for our squad because also we have the strikers adapted for this system.
"I thought it would improve us offensively as well as defensively and we didn't lose our offensive situation. In this way we have increased it because we scored many goals and created a lot of chances to score the goals and also if you maintain the clean sheet, I think this is the right way."
The change of system has liberated the likes of Diego Costa, who has nine Premier League goals this season, while Eden Hazard has also shown sparkling form, bagging seven strikes in the league. Victor Moses has been a revelation at wing-back, while Cesar Azpilicueta has slotted in seamlessly as a third central defender, with Chelsea currently behind only Liverpool in the Premier League.