N'Golo Kante is nearing the end of his contract at Chelsea.
Speaking in his post-match press conference (h/t The Metro), Thomas Tuchel revealed that he is unaware of when Chelsea ace N’Golo Kante will return from injury.
The German boss has looked exasperated on the touchline in the past week. The draw to Man United and the narrow victory to Watford would have alerted him of our side’s deficiencies. However, our injury load is increasing every week.
N’Golo Kante, in particular, has been a huge miss in the last three games. He was substituted in the first half against Juventus after looking uneasy while running. He has since been out with an injury.
Tuchel revealed after the defeat to West Ham that he is unaware of when the midfielder will return before claiming that Jorginho is also playing through some pain.
‘I actually have no idea when he (Kante) will be back, and we are missing not only N’Golo, also Mateo Kovacic since five or six weeks ago. Jorgi is playing with hip pain for many matchdays, and you can see it. That is the situation.’
He further clarified his stance on the injury to Kante.
‘It is not interesting what I think. He plays when he is back. He has a long way to go, if I say now he plays at Zenit, and he doesn’t play, then that doesn’t help. I take care of the injured players. N’Golo has not been on the pitch since Juventus.’
On Saturday, we finally relinquished our lead at the top of the table. Man City and Liverpool both picked up victories, with the latter nicking the game against Wolves in added time. We need our best players on the pitch to maintain consistency.
Kante is a huge force in the midfield, as is Mateo Kovacic. The pair is arguably our starting midfielders on their best day. Losing them, especially during a tight fixture schedule, is a massive blow.
Our strength in depth is not as much as we thought. The injury to Ben Chilwell has also cost us dearly in the past week, with Marcos Alonso looking off the paces. Trevoh Chalobah also limped off against Watford on Wednesday night.
It is an even bigger worry that Tuchel cannot give a return date on any of the players. Thus, we will need to adapt to the current conditions and hope to not damage our ambitions of winning the league title this season.
This may also see Saul Niguez get some game time in midfield, who has been an isolated figure since his loan move from Atletico Madrid this summer. Conor Gallagher and Billy Gilmour are two midfielders loaned out this season, and with January fast approaching, it wouldn’t be unwise of us to get in touch with either of them if the injury crisis continues.
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