Chelsea boss Frank Lampard opted to start N’Golo Kante and Mateo Kovacic in central midfield in our 2-1 victory over Aston Villa on Wednesday night.
Lampard admitted after the game that Kante and Kovacic provided balance and control.
The statistics from our victory over Aston Villa showed our crucial Kante and Kovacic were for Chelsea.
No one spent more time on the ball than Kante (10.9 per cent). Mateo Kovacic wasn’t far behind his midfield partner (10.1 per cent).
The duo also had the most touches (Kante 127, Kovacic 123), completed the most number of accurate passes (Kante 98, Kovacic 97) and made a game-high four key passes each.
Kovacic registered a Chelsea-high three clearances, and Kante a game-high three interceptions.
Kante and Kovacic complemented each other in midfield and this could just become Lampard’s first choice midfield pairing. Jorginho should be worried about his place in the starting XI.