Arsenal: N’Golo Kante Piles On The Pain

N’Golo Kante was fantastic on Saturday. His performance only highlights Arsenal’s shortcomings, piling the pain on Arsene Wenger in the process.

That was a truly uninspiring performance from Arsenal. Lacking any semblance of creativity in the final third, Arsene Wenger, in the midst of serving a warranted four-match ban for pushing a fourth official, watched on the from the stands as his side crumbled under the relentless pressure of the Chelsea defensive wall.

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There were numerous moments in the game in which the Gunners enjoyed much of the ball, passing it around comfortably and carefully. There was, though, little purpose to the possession. They were tentative and safe, failing to ever engineer space against what was a tightly packed Chelsea formation.

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The central cog in the league leader’s machine is N’Golo Kante. Antonio Conte’s system is founded on the ability to create confusion among the opposition’s defensive ranks on the counter attacks thanks, primarily, to the existence of a wide presence through Marcos Alonso and Victor Moses, combined with the free-roaming roles of Eden Hazard and Pedro who are initially stationed out wide.

It is a brilliantly difficult system to both break down and defend against. But it is only possible because of the midfield pairing of Nemanja Matic and the aforementioned Kante, especially the latter. Kante has the engine and energy to play against a trio of midfielders and overcome them when only part of a pair. It is an incredible ability of the Frenchman, both in his defensive work and his distribution, and they were on full show in the 3-1 dismantling of Arsenal.

In the build-up to the game, Wenger revealed that he tried and failed to sign Kante twice; once before his move to Leicester City and once last summer, in which he signed for Chelsea. Kante, after his imperious midfield display on Saturday, only went to pile on the pain for the many fans, myself included, who yearned for his signature in the summer.

Francis Coquelin was utterly outplayed by his French counterpart, lacking in both the defensive and attacking side of the game, while Granit Xhaka was in the away end thanks to an untimely suspension due to his rash tendencies coming to the fore once more. Kante, meanwhile, was magnificent.

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The central midfielder is now on course to win his second straight Premier League title and it is no coincidence. He is a thoroughly tremendous player, well deserving of the praise that is being poured upon him. It only leads me to think of what might have been with him in the Arsenal team.