Chelsea face impossible task of replacing unique Kante

Chelsea’s win over Leeds United at the weekend was an important one. Frank Lampard’s team’s superb recent form has been built on keeping clean sheets, or at the very least building a lead to protect.

Conceding first, and conceding so early, provided a different challenge. After having it almost all their own way for two months straight, the home side were suddenly aware of what it was like to be trailing and needing to kick things up a gear.

In the end they managed it without too much trouble, and their ability to outrun and outplay one of the fittest teams in the league was central to that. N’Golo Kante, as ever, was a dynamo in the middle, single-handedly managing everything that Leeds threw at the Chelsea back-line and allowing the rest of his midfield to press forward and get the goals to turn the game around.

You only have to read Leeds midfielder Kalvin Phillips’ quotes about the Frenchman to get a sense of how unique he is as a player, and what it’s like to come up against a force of nature like him:

“Kante was unbelievable during that game, he was everywhere, [he] didn’t look like he broke a sweat,” Phillips raved.

“When you see stuff like that you think when you’re running around obviously and you’re tired and you look at Kante and he’s just jogging around as if it’s nowt, it kind of – not demoralises you but – [makes you think] this is going to be a difficult second half,” he continued.

“Literally, any second ball that dropped, he was there, any 50:50 that was there, he was there, so he was at the right place at the right time every single time.

“Without Kante, [Chelsea] are not the same team.”

It’s something one perhaps doesn’t consider – the psychological effects of coming up against an opposite number who is genuinely tireless. Even with the lead, you feel yourself gradually slowing down, losing a yard of pace, hitting your passes that fraction less accurately.

Then you look over at Kante and see him still at 100%, flying around the pitch just as he was in the first minute. As you start to feel yourself fade, you can see him just grow into the spaces you’re leaving behind.

But it’s what Phillips – himself a superb midfielder – says at the end that’s notable. Chelsea are “not the same team” without Kante.

He is a one-off, and Chelsea wouldn’t be able to play this way without him. As he passes 30, and the injuries begin to mount up, the club have to be very seriously thinking about how to replace him – but how do you replace something unique?

Billy Gilmour showed again last night that’s he’s a brilliant player who can do a very similar job – and do some things even better. But even he isn’t the phenomenon, the unstoppable freak of nature that Kante is.

Chelsea should appreciate their engine while he’s there, because there might not be anyone on the planet who can do what he does when he’s at his best. In fact, there may not be anyone quite like him ever again.