Blues boss tells roaming Kante to stick to his role

Maurizio Sarri held individual post-mortems with his Chelsea players following the loss to Tottenham and N’golo Kante has been ordered not to deviate from his defined role on the right of midfield.

Spurs won 3-1 at Wembley to end Sarri’s 18-game unbeaten start to competitive action with the Blues and the Italian wants to see a reaction after rebuking France World Cup winner Kante for roaming too much.

Kante won two Premier League titles, with Leicester and Chelsea, playing in central midfield, but has been deployed out of position on the right to accommodate Italy playmaker Jorginho in Sarri’s chosen style.

The 27-year-old signed a new five-year contract just last week and was Professional Footballers’ Association and Football Writers’ Association Player of the Year in 2017.

Speaking ahead of tonight’s Europa League Group L clash with Greece’s PAOK, Sarri said: “I want to play a centre midfielder

0 N’golo Kante: Out of position

with a very technical player. For me the centre midfielder is Jorginho or [Cesc] Fabregas.

“I don’t want Kante in this position. Kante in the last match wanted to solve the match after the first 15 minutes, but in the wrong way.

“He lost the position, he attacked too much the other box. And I think this one is not one of the best characteristics of Kante. It was only a reaction to the difficulties.”

The Blues are already through to the Europa League last 32 and need a point to win Group L with one match to go.

Eden Hazard is out tonight with an ankle injury sustained against Spurs, but should be back to face Fulham in the Premier League on Sunday.