Kante: I can flourish at Chelsea alongside Matic

Chelsea new-boy N’Golo Kante is relishing life in south-west London, but the player famed for his qualities shielding the back four admits that is because of the chance to flourish going forwards.

Blues manager Antonio Conte has deployed Kante in a familiar role in front of his defence, but with the likes of Nemanja Matic alongside him, the French international has had the opportunity to get forward more than during his time at Leicester City.

The 25-year-old scored his first goal for Chelsea in the recent rout of Manchester United, and if he can continue in Conte’s 3-4-3 formation in the same way, Kante is confident there will be more where that came from.

“I think Chelsea is different from my previous clubs because when I played in Caen and Leicester, we didn’t have the ball as much and we played more on the counter-attack,” he said.

“It’s better to have the ball than to run most of the time behind the ball. We defend like a team and when it’s my task to do the pressing and to work hard to win possession, I have to do it.

“That’s what I try to do – work hard to win the ball when we haven’t got it and to keep possession or create a chance when we have the ball.

“Chelsea have many very good midfielders, but most of the time I play with Matic and, yes, he’s a good player.

“In training we have done a lot of work together, so in the game we can understand each other.

“When he goes forward, I stay back. When I go forward, he stays back. When you play together, it’s good to understand each other and I think it is a good partnership.”