Kante's new role under Don Sarri

As many Chelsea fans are aware, Maurizio Sarri has attempted to use N'Golo Kanté in a completely different way to how Antonio Conte did.

In the last 2 seasons, Kante was generally used to sit back behind Fabregas or Matic and specialised in making tackles and interceptions to break up counter-attacks, and tended to win the ball back off the opposition when his teammates lost possession. This season, however, Maurizio Sarri has attempts to build him into an all-round midfielder, encouraging Kanté to press the opposing defensive line (which strikers usually tend to do) and to find space in midfield to give Jorginho and the defence an extra option, rarely helping out in the defensive third.

As you'd expect, Kante's average interceptions and tackles per match has significantly decreased. However, his average fouls and losses of possession have increased. Kante's pass accuracy and successful dribbles per match have unfortunately decreased, and the only fields that Kanté appears to have improved in are his long passes and goal contributions.

So does this mean that Kanté is being wasted in his new role, having a bad season or doesn't fit in Sarri's system?

Lots of Chelsea fans believe that Kante's exceptional tackling and intercepting abilities are being wasted in his new role, but his immense stamina and work ethic are being utilised as he is covering more ground in order to press the defensive back line and find space. Kanté hasn't made any drastic errors or mistakes this season, and so it seems unlikely that he's on a bad run of form.

Some fans have called for Chelsea to play Jorginho, Barkley and Kovacic together in midfield as Kanté doesn't appear to suit "Sarri-ball".  However, many experts suggest that Kanté will take time to adapt to Maurizio Sarri's system, and will flourish if given the opportunity and game time. If Kanté and Maurizio Sarri remain at Chelsea for another 2 seasons or so, we believe that Kanté will adapt into a perfect "box-to-box" midfielder, similar to Arturo Vidal in his prime, who can win back the ball, start an attack and assist his teammates. Kanté has proved that he has the necessary defensive attributes, can cover a lot of ground and can find space to collect the ball, pass and keep the play moving. Therefore, it seems that all he will need to work on is his dribbling, which he appears to be trying to improve on this season, in order to become a key part of Chelsea's team once again.

So would putting N'Golo Kante up high on the pitch means Sarri has under-utilised the Frenchman? Let us know!