Kante comeback proves Chelsea simply aren't title contenders without him

 

  The Blues have been underperforming for weeks and they have proved in recent weeks that they are simply not good enough without their midfielder

Cesc Fabregas was given the man of the match award, Chelsea's defence were praised for their clean sheet and Alvaro Morata stole the headlines with his goal, but it was N'Golo Kante who was the biggest influence as Manchester United were beaten at Stamford Bridge.

Kante is more than Chelsea's engine, he is the heartbeat of the side and Antonio Conte failed all month to find a way of playing without their midfielder, who picked up a hamstring injury while on international duty
Both the 3-4-3 that Chelsea won the title with last season, and the 3-5-2 formations that the Blues use are hardly as effective when Kante isn't available. This is a huge issue as Chelsea have two specialist wing-backs and a group of centre backs that are mainly suited to playing in a three man defence. Conte spoke of the tactical implications of Kante's return as he celebrated a hard earned victory against Jose Mourinho's side.
“For sure, to have the possibility to play with the three midfielders, it was very important," Conte said at Stamford Bridge. "That was very important for me to recover Kante and to play with Bakayoko and Fabregas, and to have an important substitute on the bench like Drinkwater.
"This season we are struggling a bit to find the best solution for this team. Last season we found a great balance with the system, 3-4-2-1. But, this season, we changed many players and we have to find a solution game by game. I think we showed a good balance and created many chances to score.”
Drinkwater was reunited with his old partner Kante for the first time since he won the Premier League title with him in 2015-16 and Conte has all four of his midfielders available for the first time this season.

Kante is a regular in big games for Chelsea, while he is only ever rested against lesser opposition in the cups. Despite this, Chelsea still conceded just 0.9 goals per game with him in the team and go up to a further 1.2 goals per game when he is not there. Chelsea conceded fewer shots without Kante as he makes 10.1 shots per game drop down to 9.5 per game