Kante role has changed

As N’Golo Kante tackles a new role at Chelsea, his old club Leicester seek to move on too. Ahead of the EFL Cup clash between the two teams, live on Sky Sports 1, Adam Bate assesses how, despite Kante being a revelation last season, both clubs are now looking for something different…

Idrissa Gueye’s impressive start at Everton has been one of the early stories of the season with his all-action displays in midfield helping to propel the team into second spot. Gueye, a £7.1m signing from Aston Villa, has made 31 tackles already – nine more than anyone else.

It’s not a huge surprise. Despite Villa’s struggles, he ranked second in the Premier League for tackles and interceptions last season too. Perhaps the bigger surprise is that Leicester eschewed the option of moving quickly to bring Gueye in for the man who topped that list.

Kante was described by Claudio Ranieri as “irreplaceable” when he left for Chelsea in the summer. Intriguingly though, Leicester didn’t go with a like-for-like swap. Instead they decided to go down a different route, bringing in Nampalys Mendy from Nice.

Mendy has unremarkable numbers as a tackler. His strength instead is as a metronomic passer. And besides, it’s the versatile Daniel Amartey who currently occupies Kante’s position. Ranieri has been quick to stress that he is not a direct replacement either.

“There will be a big difference,” the Leicester boss admitted ahead of the campaign. “Now everybody must understand that there is no Kante so we have to be more close, more attentive. We have to think different and close space quicker. We must be smarter.”

To an extent, Danny Drinkwater has filled the breach. He ranks among the top-five tacklers in the Premier League …

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