Chelsea face FC Porto in the Champions League quarter-finals second leg this week but N’Golo Kante could be an absentee for this match.
Kante had picked up an injury while on international duty with France but he made a swift recovery and was part of the matchday squads in the first leg and also against Palace this past weekend.
And since the midfielder had played only 30 minutes on Saturday, we were certain that he will be starting in their UCL game. But now, Thomas Tuchel has come out to make it clear that N’Golo Kante still doesn’t have a guaranteed place in the starting line-up and he will only make this call in the final hours before the match.
‘I was unbelievably happy when he [Kante] told me he would travel with us last week to Sevilla, because I didn’t expect it,’ Thomas Tuchel said in his pre-match press conference.
‘The plan was that he arrives in the game against Crystal Palace, but he arrived before that which was amazing. He was confident enough to go on the pitch and he was strong enough to help us in the last 10 or 15 minutes with all his quality and intensity.
‘This[his selection] is now a decision I will take tomorrow morning when I see him today in training and then when we reflect on the others for the team in central midfield.
‘Normally it is hard to imagine a game like this without NG, but at the same time we need to be absolutely careful about him and that we don’t take risks with his health and with his injury situation.
‘The question tomorrow is whether we want him to start or whether we want him to finish the game because there is also the possibility that it will go to 120 minutes. This is the question and honestly it is not answered yet, I will do this tomorrow morning.’
Kante has not been at the top of his game this season for Chelsea but there’s no denying that whenever he plays, Chelsea look a more rigid side in the middle of the pitch.
And since they will be defending a 2-0 advantage from the first leg, we are certain that Thomas Tuchel will be thinking of deploying N’Golo Kante in defensive midfield from the very first minute – barring the fact that he doesn’t have an injury.
