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Kante not out for revenge

This won't shock you but N'Golo Kante, the engine of the Leicester City and Chelsea Premier League triumphs who was so beloved by neutrals that they didn't begrudge him rocking up at Stamford Bridge, is not motivated by revenge for the aforementioned 2002 defeat. Here's what he had to say in the pre-match press conference yesterday:

"I know you have this famous word 'revenge', but for me, there's no such thing as revenge in football, and it happened 24 years ago. Good for Senegal for what happened in 2002, but now there's a new chapter to write. Today we're going to do everything we can to make sure the result goes our way."

There's no Kante in the starting XI, no great surprise even considering his great history with Les Bleus. The 2018 champions spent two and a half years in Saudi Arabia before moving to Fenerbahce, where he performed pretty well in the back half of the season. He is just not the player he was back in his Chelsea days.