{"id":1100077,"date":"2019-08-04T19:54:21","date_gmt":"2019-08-04T18:54:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/?p=1100077"},"modified":"2019-08-04T19:54:21","modified_gmt":"2019-08-04T18:54:21","slug":"chelsea-lampard-unsure-kante-fitness-man-utd-opener","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/chelsea-lampard-unsure-kante-fitness-man-utd-opener\/","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea boss Lampard unsure on Kante fitness ahead of Man Utd opener"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Frank Lampard has admitted that he doesn&#8217;t know whether N&#8217;Golo Kante will be fit in time for the start of the season.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Kante featured for the first time in pre-season against Borussia Monchengladbach when he came off the bench in the Blues&#8217; 2-2 draw. Despite the appearance, Lampard remained cryptic as to whether Kante will start at Old Trafford on Sunday.<\/p>\n<h2>Chelsea&#8217;s midfield headache: Five things to know&#8230;<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Lampard goes into the new season with a few potential midfield combinations in mind.<\/li>\n<li>Kante, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Callum Hudson-Odoi are all carrying injuries.<\/li>\n<li>Mateo Kovacic played alongside Jorginho against Monchengladbach.<\/li>\n<li>Mason Mount and Ross Barkley are in fierce competition for the No 10 spot.<\/li>\n<li>Lampard has rotated between 4-3-3, 4-4-1-1 and 4-1-2-1-2 in pre-season.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>https:\/\/audioboom.com\/posts\/7330203-it-s-easy-to-get-backwards-but-liverpool-s-dependence-on-their-front-three-isn-t-a-weakness<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to the media after their final pre-season stalemate, Lampard said it had &#8220;always been the plan&#8221; to give Kante 20 minutes at the end of the game.<\/p>\n<p>He said: &#8220;He&#8217;s working a little bit now and it was just to give him the feeling of match time as he hasn&#8217;t been able to do that yet as it&#8217;s an awkward injury.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I just wanted him to feel it and us to see it as you cannot replicate it unless you do it. It was a good opportunity to do that for him and we&#8217;ll work hard on getting him fit.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Who knows if he&#8217;ll be ready for next week or not, but we&#8217;ll work hard for that.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How will Jurgen Klopp setup Liverpool?\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/BkH1a6Bd4KE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Subscribe to <a href=\"http:\/\/sqwk.at\/Squawka-Sub\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Squawka\u2019s Youtube channel here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2>Where will Kante play?<\/h2>\n<p>The French midfielder generally made his name at Leicester City during their extraordinary title-winning season. Playing alongside Chelsea team-mate Danny Drinkwater, Kante was known for his unbelievable stamina and tenacious tackling; a characteristic which proved vital to Claudio Ranieri&#8217;s\u00a0side&#8217;s success.<\/p>\n<p>Kante earned a move to Chelsea, where he won the league and was named PFA Player of the Year in another remarkable season playing defensively in 2017.<\/p>\n<p>However, Maurizio Sarri changed Kante&#8217;s position. He gave the 28-year-old more attacking responsibility and pushed him up the pitch. Kante scored five goals during 2018\/19 and adapted well, but question marks were raised as to what his natural position really is.<\/p>\n<p>Given Chelsea&#8217;s plethora of attacking midfielders, it would be surprising if Kante didn&#8217;t become Chelsea&#8217;s primary defensive midfielder. Mount, Barkley, Kovacic and Loftus-Cheek are all far more capable of pushing forward and Chelsea&#8217;s only other defensive midfielder is Tiemoue Bakayoko, who has been unimpressive in pre-season, to say the least.<\/p>\n<p>Whatever happens, everyone knows Kante will surely be Lampard&#8217;s main midfield man.<\/p>\n<p><script>(function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(d.getElementById(id))return;js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src='https:\/\/embed.playbuzz.com\/sdk.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}(document,'script','playbuzz-sdk'));<\/script><\/p>\n<div class=\"playbuzz\" data-id=\"66c974de-b77b-4864-9922-f0029ea5359e\" data-show-info=\"false\" data-show-share=\"false\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Frank Lampard has admitted that he doesn&#8217;t know whether N&#8217;Golo Kante will be fit in time for the start of the season. Kante featured for the first time in pre-season against Borussia Monchengladbach when he came off the bench in the Blues&#8217; 2-2 draw. Despite the appearance, Lampard remained cryptic as to whether Kante will&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":363,"featured_media":1087554,"parent":0,"menu_order":5816,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":"","_yoast_wpseo_title":"","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Frank Lampard has admitted that he doesn't know whether N'Golo Kante will be fit in time for the start of the season.","footnotes":""},"tags":[],"news-category":[],"class_list":["post-1100077","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"external_featured_image_url":"","hide_featured_image_pattern":false},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.1 (Yoast SEO v27.1.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Chelsea boss Lampard unsure on Kante fitness ahead of Man Utd opener | Squawka | EN<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Frank Lampard has admitted that he doesn&#039;t know whether 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