N’Golo Kanté just wants to win win win no matter what

Something remarkable is set to happen this season in the Premier League.

For the first time in three years, the club where N’Golo Kanté plays will not win the title. We’re reliably informed that the Earth will keep on spinning despite Manchester City’s impending achievement, which is good, since it’ll give the little engine in the heart of Chelsea’s midfield another shot at glory next season.

“It’s important to win, the Premier League is another competition, we are fourth in the table and if we want to play Champions League next season we have to win these type of games.

“We know Man United have good players but it’s one team against another, our tactics against their tactics. We did well against them at home, I think it will be a little bit different but I hope we can win.”

Kanté has scored the vast majority of his Chelsea goals (2 of 3!) against Manchester United, but he has yet to win at Old Trafford and would sure love to set that record straight today.

“I’ve never won at Old Trafford but at Chelsea we’ve beaten them three times, I hope I can win my first game against them away. We are playing Manchester United and if we win we will be level on points with them. Liverpool are four points in front of us [having played a game more], Tottenham are fifth but only one point behind so it’s very tight.

“We have to keep winning and hopefully we will be in the Champions League next season. Second place is still possible, we have to fight for it and see what we can do at the end of the season.”

-N’Golo Kante; Source: Chelsea FC

The competition for the top-four is indeed very tight, which makes today’s game very much the proverbial six-pointer. If we win, we’ll be level on points with United. If we lose, we will six points behind them and probably a couple points behind fourth spot — and all that with Manchester City looming next weekend. With only ten games left in the season, this is as must-not-lose as it gets. Chelsea have had a relatively decent record at Old Trafford over the years, but haven’t won there since 2013 and haven’t done the double over them since 2009-10.

Whatever confidence has been gained from the draw againt Barcelona will have to be put to good use in this one.

“For sure this kind of game [against Barcelona] gives us confidence for the second leg and also in the Premier League.

“We played well. We were compact throughout the game, we tried not to give them a lot of chances and we did well in that. We hit the post two times, we scored and to finish 1-1 is a little bit disappointing. But it’s like that, we have to go in two weeks and play to win. We showed we have the ability to do something against Barcelona.”

-N’Golo Kante; source: Daily Mail

Focus. Optimism. Hard work. Chelsea can end the season on a high note if we apply all three effectively.