Merson says N’Golo Kante gave his midfielder partners attacking freedom

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Paul Merson has highlighted the importance of N’Golo Kante in the holding midfield role which allowed Kai Havertz and Mason Mount to flourish against Burnley.

Sometimes a few little tweaks are all it takes to make the pieces fall into place. It was exactly what happened in Chelsea’s 3-0 win at Turf Moor on Saturday.

Frank Lampard made several personnel changes to keep his team fresh, but the one particular tactical adjustment that stood out was the introduction of Mount and Havertz as two attacking No.8s in front of Kante who played the lone holding midfield role.

Sky Sports pundit Merson believes Kante’s defensive quality gave the two attacking midfielders some sort of insurance in midfield and therefore allowed Mount and Havertz to do a lot more damage in the final third.

He wrote on his column on Sky Sports: “I watched Chelsea play against Burnley, they played a back four, they played N’Golo Kante in front of the back four, and let everyone else get on with it.

“They ripped Burnley to shreds, I haven’t seen too many teams make Burnley look bang average.

“Because Kante was playing in that holding role, it gave Kai Havertz and Mason Mount the freedom to do what they want — they didn’t have to spend most of their time on the edge of their own box tracking back.”

Lampard himself said he liked what he saw from the midfield three in that game.

“I liked the balance of the midfield,” he told Chelsea’s official website.

“N’Golo Kante was fantastic behind Mason and Kai, and there was a fluidity about it where they could drop out and get on the ball in deeper areas.”

“There was a lot of energy in that midfield as well as quality.”

It would be interesting to see whether this will be Chelsea’s primary midfield shape for the rest of the season.

While Lampard currently has two other midfielders in case he needs a rotation in Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic (three when Billy Gilmour recovers from his knee injury), it’s likely questionable if having two attacking N0.8s would still work when their only true defensive-minded midfielder Kante has to rest.