N’Golo Kante: Chelsea star in health scare after fainting in front of shocked team-mates

Kante was a surprisingly left out of Chelsea’s team to face Manchester City on Sunday and his omission was said by the club to be down to illness.

But the Telegraph are reporting this evening that Kante fainted in the Chelsea dressing room at their Cobham training ground resulting in medical staff rushing to his aid.

It is claimed Kante’s team-mates feared he was suffering from a heart problem after he “slumped to one side” but subsequent checks gave the all clear

Kante travelled with the Chelsea squad to Manchester after being cleared to play but then reported feeling unwell and was left out.

The report says there are suggestions last week’s severe weather may have played a role in Kante’s incident.

Kante is said to have trained today without problems and he will be monitored ahead of Saturday’s clash against Crystal Palace and next week’s Champions League last-16 clash with Barcelona.

Kante’s absence meant Danny Drinkwater replaced him in the Chelsea team but he struggled to make an impact as the Premier League were beaten 1-0 by City.

Chelsea have received heavy criticism for their approach to the game with pundit Jamie Redknapp calling it a “crime against football”.

But Drinkwater believes their game plan nearly worked.

He said: ”We came to frustrate them and it was working at times in the game, but in the end we lost it, so it’s no good.

“It was our game plan, but we have got to take responsibility on the pitch. We had to try and nullify them. They try and pull you out of pockets, frustrate you defensively and play round you. That’s how they create their spaces between the two lines.

“We were trying as hard as we could to not let that happen but, with the players they have got, it’s going to happen sometimes.

“It was difficult. It felt like we were doing a lot of running and they had all the time in the world. The way they scored the goal is tough to take.

“We didn’t utilise the counter-attack as well as we could have done. We were sloppy on the ball sometimes. We were running a lot off the ball so it’s about finding the balance. It’s frustrating because we could have drawn 0-0 and that wouldn’t have been a bad result.”