Kante hails Matic partnership

N’Golo Kante believes Nemanja Matic is his ideal partner in central midfield and has hailed the understanding he has developed with his Chelsea team-mate.

The France international joined the Blues from Premier League champions Leicester City in July and has gone on to play in all 11 of his new side’s top-flight matches.

Matic has also appeared in every game, with the duo forming a key cog of Antonio Conte’s 3-4-3 formation which has helped Chelsea up to second in the table.

“Chelsea have many very good midfielders, but most of the time I play with Matic and, yes, he’s a good player,” Kante told Chelsea magazine.

“In training we have done a lot of work together, so in the game we can understand each other.

“When he goes forward, I stay back. When I go forward, he stays back. When you play together, it’s good to understand each other and I think it is a good partnership.”

Playing for a side which dominates possession like Chelsea is a new experience for Kante and it is one he is thoroughly enjoying.

He added: “I think Chelsea is different from my previous clubs because when I played in Caen and Leicester, we didn’t have the ball as much and we played more on the counter-attack.

“It’s better to have the ball than to run most of the time behind the ball. We defend like a team and when it’s my task to do the pressing and to work hard to win possession, I have to do it.

“That’s what I try to do – work hard to win the ball when we haven’t got it and to keep possession or create a chance when we have the ball.”