Chelsea predicted XI for Leicester: Battle of the best (of the rest)
By Travis Tyler
N’Golo Kante, 7, Midfield, France
It is always funny to see people on Twitter or elsewhere blame Kante or advocate selling him. Chelsea has exactly one world class player currently and it is Kante. That is not a problem to separate from but one to build around.
Maybe his box to box role is less than ideal compared to his ball winner days, but that situation does not appear to be changing any time soon. Nor is his place in the Chelsea squad.
Jorginho, 5, Midfield, Italy
This is the type of match that Jorginho will make or break. Leicester will want to keep as much of the ball as possible, but Rodgers would not ask his team to do that at the expense of a better strategy. If it suits Rodgers better to mark Jorginho out and play scrappy, he will have his Foxes does that.
Jorginho will need to survive that or work around it. If he does, Chelsea will do well. If he does not, well the writing is on the wall for the midfield battle.
Mateo Kovacic, 17, Attacking Midfield, Croatia
The midfield trio of Kante, Jorginho, and Kovacic is great at keeping possession and defending counters but it has virtually no penetration at all. Given that has been Chelsea’s big issue as of late, Lampard may be tempted to use Mason Mount or Ross Barkley in lieu of Kovacic or Kante. But given the importance of this match in the grand scheme of the season, expect the more conservative approach to weather Leicester.