Chelsea star Thiago Silva signed a one-year contract extension with the club earlier this month after continuing his impressive form in the Blues' defence. The limited minutes for club captain Cesar Azpilicueta has seen Silva wear the armband for much of the season and his displays have simply only gotten better with age.
Since his arrival at Stamford Bridge in 2020, Silva has played with numerous partners in defence including the now-departed duo of Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen. In the first half of this campaign Trevoh Chalobah, Kalidou Koulibaly and Wesley Fofana have all been deployed alongside the veteran defender.
Prior to the World Cup, Chelsea conceded 17 goals in 14 games after three new defenders arrived in the summer transfer window. The Blues then made another major defensive decision in January that has paid off with that worrying stat improving significantly.
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Benoit Badiashile joined the club from AS Monaco in the winter window for £35million and in his four league starts in the Chelsea defence, only one goal has been conceded. Goalless draws against Liverpool and Fulham, sandwich a narrow victory over Crystal Palace, with the 21-year-old not looking out of place at the elite level.
After many auditions of finding the perfect partner for Silva, it looks as though Badiashile is the closest to filling that role. Their strengths and weaknesses contrast each other perfectly with Badiashile's frame and aggression allowing Silva to focus primarily on reading and anticipating danger before it arrives.
Earlier in the season, Silva suffered from fatigue in weeks where Chelsea would play every three days but recently, with Badiashile alongside him, that has not been the case. Silva has started every Premier League game since mid-October and former Premier League defender William Gallas has seemingly told Potter there is no need to start resting him now.
"Thiago Silva is very smart. He can play at this level at his age because he is a very clever defender," he told Genting Casino. "Against West Ham, he played against [Michail] Antonio who is big and strong, but he handled him easily. He wasn’t always competing with him in the physical challenge. He dropped off and anticipated passes towards him.
"When you look at his game, the way he reads danger, he is magnificent. He doesn’t rely on his pace because he is so smart, which is why he can keep playing."
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