It’s hard to make a case for the exclusion of N’Golo Kante from the Chelsea starting lineup mainly due to his status and quality.
French international Kante is widely regarded as the best defensive midfielder in the world but he has hardly played in that role for Chelsea dating back to the start of the last campaign.
Kante won the Premier League title with Leicester City surprisingly under Italian manager Claudio Ranieri during the 2015/16 season and he was one of the most important players in that Foxes team alongside the attacking duo of Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez.
The former Caen player went on to join Chelsea immediately after that league feat with Leicester City in a £32m deal and he continued his assured performances with the Blues as he won the league title in his first season with the guidance of another Italian manager Antonio Conte. Kante played as a defensive midfielder until the summer of 2018 when Maurizio Sarri was appointed. He has since assumed a more advanced midfield role since then.
Since then, there had been calls for him to return to his original role.
His form has also suffered this season under new manager Frank Lampard in comparison with the last campaign and that could be traced to the numerous injury setbacks suffered by the French World Cup winner this season.
Kante has been a shadow of his impressive self at Chelsea in recent weeks and that has led to increasing calls for him to be dropped from the starting XI or returned to his defensive midfield role. The Chelsea midfield seems to be in better shape with the duo of Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic who has been the best midfielder at the club this season on the back of his permanent transfer from Real Madrid last summer.