Aheem Sterling scored his first goal for Chelsea as Thomas Tuchel’s side closed the preseason with a win over Udinese on Friday night.
tuchel last season N’Golo praised Kanté as Chelsea‘s Mohamed Salah and with goals such as the northeast Italy opener, it’s easy to see why.
The midfielder drove through the lines, choosing not to free Marcos Alonso (often Chelsea’s most creative player) despite wanting to leave for Barcelona) and instead chose to shoot himself, past Marco Silvestri and into the bottom right corner.
With Mason Mount, Raheem Sterling and Kai Havertz guilty of missing opportunities both before and after Kante’s strike, Tuchel’s high praise a few months ago took on even more relevance.
Kante’s midfield partner Jorginho was also hugely involved during the opening 45 minutes, beating Sterling, who first put Silvestri down before firing straight at him. Lucky for the big summer draw, the ball bounced off him and flipped over the keeper.
Gerard Deulofeu pulled one back from the home side, plunging into a poor save from Edouard Mendy after Roberto Perrerya, who had been causing trouble all evening, caught the defense taking a nap.
The second half brought further missed opportunities from Sterling, Havertz and Mount, albeit after an encouraging build-up and intense pressure between the three.
That was until the introduction of Callum Hudson-Odoi, who gave Chelsea much more dynamism at right-back. During the dying embers of the game, the winger dropped his shoulder and took his marker crossed in front of Mount to tap in a third.
Hardly the most clinical achievement in the world, but some order has been restored after the loss to Arsenal in Orlando.