Leicester vs. Chelsea: Kepa / Soyuncu, Kante / Maddison top key clashes

2. James Maddison vs. N’Golo Kante

Between Kante and Maddison, you would be hard-pressed to find two players with more contrasting personalities. Kante is perhaps the ultimate good guy in world football, while Maddison has taken quite the heel turn this season.

Chelsea are lucky to have the former, both in terms of character and talent.

The good news for Chelsea is that Maddison’s early season form is a relic of the previous decade. He’s tallied a whopping one goal and zero assists in his last eight matches, which lines up with Leicester’s overall dip in form.

Unfortunately, Kante is coming in off the back of his worst performance in a Chelsea shirt against Arsenal. Whether it’s the formation, the tactics or something else, there’s no question that Kante seems to be a square peg in a round hole in the current side.

That said, his main job on Saturday should simply be to keep Maddison in his pocket. Maddison is at his most dangerous around the top of the box, which is where Kante usually does his best work. Jamie Vardy will be keeping the center backs occupied all afternoon, so the battle between the two midfielders could decide the match.

One slip-up (no pun intended) by Kante could give Maddison just enough room to either score or set up a goal.

Perhaps the biggest advantage for Chelsea is that Kante has had a 10 day break, while Maddison played the full 90 minutes in Leicester’s backbreaking loss to Aston Villa in the League Cup semifinal on Tuesday.

If Kante can suppress Leicester’s biggest creative threat, Chelsea stand a decent chance of getting a result at the King Power.