That it came against his former club only added to its significance, and after the shot bent into the corner of the net Kante couldn’t contain a big smile spreading across his face. It crowned a typically enterprising run from the middle of the park.

‘It was a good goal and I’m happy with that,’ said the midfielder, who was outstanding all game, afterwards.

‘I anticipated the pass of Reece. When he gave me the ball I had space in front of me. I tried to run at the defenders and look for the pass, but it was open for the shot, so I shot.

‘It’s always special to play against Leicester,’ he added.

‘It was an important game for us after the international break to come back with a win. We started the game very well, and I was happy to score and with the performance of the team.’

Kante noted the ‘group effort’ required to keep another clean sheet as we limited Leicester to very few chances indeed.

The emphatic victory was our ninth in 12 league games and keeps us at the top of the table ahead of next weekend’s meeting with Manchester United. Kante is not getting ahead of himself in his assessment of our title prospects, and was quick to acknowledge we are less than a third of the way through the campaign.

‘The season is long. We are still in the first period of the season. We look to win games week after week, that’s the way. We don’t know what will happen, it’s still early in the season, but we are in a good way and we need to carry on.

‘We need to work match after match if we are to achieve great things at the end of the season. The Premier League is very competitive so we have to keep going and keep working hard.’