N’Golo Kante’s potential season-ending injury another warning with potential new contract on the table

 When N’Golo Kante wasn’t included in the starting lineup for today’s game we knew something was up, and shortly before kick off Frank Lampard confirmed that the midfielder had hurt his groin in training yesterday.

It doesn’t sound too serious, but with just a couple of weeks of the season left, it may well spell the end of the campaign for Kante. It concludes yet another disappointing year where we’ve spent longer wanting him back than seeing him in action.

We had thought he’d be able to survive this final run of the season because we were finally back to playing one game a week – but it seems that even that is too much for him now.

We seemed to be on the verge of giving him a new contract, and while one little groin problem won’t change that, it’s a timely reminder that for all his brilliance, he can’t be relied upon as a regular anymore.