It remains to be seen whether N’Golo Kante will today play competitively for the first time since mid-August but either way, Graham Potter is backing the midfielder to make an impact in the closing months of the season.
The 32-year-old’s season has been hampered by a hamstring injury that required surgery but he was able to play an hour of a training ground friendly last week. Naturally, our head coach who started at Chelsea after the beginning of Kante’s long lay-off is looking forward to utilising his talents.
‘Because the player has been out for so long, it's not so easy to anticipate when he'll be back because you need to be careful with him,’ Potter emphasised.
‘It's hard to really know when he can play again but we've done really well with him and he's worked so hard that he's back in a good place, in good condition.
‘We all know how good he is, he is a top, top player. He can help any team and for sure he can help us.
‘We have a lot of games coming up. N’Golo can’t play every single minute in all of them but he can certainly help us in some and that's fantastic for us.’
Potter has also confirmed that Cesar Azpilicueta’s absence from the squad is due to a knock to the side of his knee in training. The defender has recovered from the concussion suffered in the game against Southampton last month.