Chelsea midfielder N’GoloKante has leaped into the defence of teammate Jorginho amid the recent criticism from the club’s supporters. The Italy international has been constantly preferred for the holding midfield role under Maurizio Sarri and this has generated frustration among the supporters, who are disappointed with Kante being played out of position.

However, this has not posed any concern for Kante and speaking to The Sun, the Frenchman has backed Jorginho to remain a regular in the same role. He added that the Italian is more fond of the manager’s philosophy from their time together at Naples and the club’s current run of form cannot be solely blamed on the midfielder, he said: “Jorginho came this season and is doing very well. He knows very well the philosophy of the manager. He is very important for us at the club. We are doing well. As a team, we have some difficulties at the moment but we are all together.”

Jorginho has been impressive with the distribution from the centre of the park but that has not necessarily contributed towards assisting his teammates for goals. Moreover, he has been found out with the positioning when it comes to defending and that has added the frustration for the faithful, given Kante had done the job with good success during the previous two campaigns.

In the recent European meeting against Malmo, Jorginho was afforded a rest from the starting lineup but Sarri remained reluctant to play Kante in the holding midfield role. Rather, Mateo Kovacic was drafted into the position, and this has given a clear intention that the manager prefers to have Kante further up the field.

Chelsea are scheduled to face Manchester City at the Wembley Stadium during the weekend’s League Cup final. The Blues suffered a humiliating 6-0 defeat during the previous league meeting between the sides but they should provide a better performance on Sunday.