#1 N’Golo Kante – Chelsea
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N'Golo Kante was a no-brainer as number one in this list. He has been perhaps the most vital part of Chelsea’s jigsaw under Antonio Conte. The 25-year-old Frenchman may not lead the statistics outright but he has quietly done his job to help in Chelsea’s rise to the top of the Premier League this season.
His individual performances in big games speak for itself. He scored against Manchester United in the 4-0 drubbing at Stamford Bridge and again recently in the Blues’ 1-0 victory over the Red Devils in the FA Cup. He was ever present against Spurs and Arsenal; he might have been at fault for not closing down Christian Eriksen for Dele Alli’s goals in the game Chelsea lost, but he is human after all.
Against Liverpool at Anfield, Kante made 16 tackles and was successful in winning 14 of them. To put that into perspective, no player on the pitch that night made more than four. Jordan Henderson won just two out of four that night. That was a one-off game, but overall, out of 26 games, Kante averages 3.6 tackles a game which is the third-best in the Premier League.
Additionally, he averages 2.3 interceptions, 1.1 clearances, concedes 1.5 fouls( just 0.3 more than Henderson) and makes 0.1 blocks per game. Kante rarely gets beaten by players. On an average, he gets dribbled past just 1.2 times per game, which is just 0.1 times more than Wanyama.
He is the complete defensive midfielder, however, his blocks per game and passing could improve.
