N’Golo Kante back on the pitch in the last two weeks has been a welcome sight for Chelsea fans after the Frenchman was forced to miss the best part of eight months with a hamstring injury.
Kante has been the foundation on which much of Chelsea’s success since 2016 has been built on, winning the Premier League title in his debut season at Stamford Bridge and later adding the FA Cup, Europa League, Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup.
His absence for most of this season has therefore been a huge blow for the Blues, who are potentially facing their lowest Premier League finish since 1996.
Kante played his last game prior to his lengthy layoff in August when Chelsea drew 2-2 against Tottenham. His first game back was as a substitute in the defeat to Aston Villa at the beginning of April. The 32-year-old then captained Chelsea in their draw against Liverpool and again started this week’s Champions League defeat to Real Madrid.
The curious thing about those four games is that each one had a different manager, underlining the state of dysfunction currently ongoing at the club.
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Thomas Tuchel was in charge until early September, but was sacked and replaced by Graham Potter. He then lost his job after the Villa game proved to be the final straw for the Chelsea hierarchy, replaced by Bruno Saltor for the Liverpool game, with Frank Lampard in charge for Real Madrid.
Kante wasn’t involved in Lampard’s first game back at the helm against Wolves.
It means he has literally played four consecutive games under four different managers.
Next up for Chelsea as they try to restore some pride is the visit of Brighton to Stamford Bridge in the Premier League on Saturday. The reverse fixture at the Amex Stadium in October ended in a humiliating 4-1 defeat.
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