Chelsea managed to hold Liverpool to a 1-1 draw at Anfield but this well-deserved point might have come at the expense of N’Golo Kante picking up an injury.
Kante missed the Arsenal game due to an ankle problem and against Liverpool, the same issue seems to have been aggravated courtesy of a collision with Sadio Mane.
N’Golo Kante was taken off at halftime to be replaced by Mateo Kovacic and speaking after the game, the Chelsea boss explained why the Frenchman was not risked further.
Thomas Tuchel said after the match, as quoted: “He is injured. He needed to go out (of the game).
“He missed the Arsenal game because of pain in the ankle and a little inflammation, so nothing serious because obviously he was back in training and started today.
“But winning the ball I think the opponent fell on his ankle and he twisted it again.
“He had immediately the same pain that he had before the Arsenal game. Then he was lacking force to accelerate and we needed to take him off.”
Tuchel on Kante: "He is injured and needed to go out. He missed Arsenal for pain in the ankle but it was nothing serious. In this game, the opponent fell on his ankle and he had the same pain that he had against Arsenal. He couldn't accelerate so we had to take him off." #CFC
— Nizaar Kinsella (@NizaarKinsella) August 28, 2021
Kante injury: Kovacic to replace him?
Jorginho and N’Golo Kante have become the two big-game midfielders for Chelsea right now so this fresh injury should be a bit of a headache for Thomas Tuchel.
But thankfully the Blues play their next match on 11th September against Aston Villa, so the Frenchman has gotten some time to make a full recovery.
Mateo Kovacic has also done great in midfield so Tuchel should not have any hesitation in using him against Villa. But right after that Chelsea get back into the Champions League and this is where Kante will be needed since the manager will have to make several rotations to his starting line-up.
