Lampard opens up on why Kante was on the bench against Wolves despite being fully fit; Fans are angry

Lampard opens up on why Kante was on the bench against Wolves despite being fully fit; Fans are angry.

Chelsea interim manager Frank Lampard has spoken to Sky Sports ahead of his first game back in charge of Chelsea against Wolves, and one of the notable changes in his first line up compared to the one put out by Bruno Salter on Tuesday night is the absence of N’Golo Kante.

The France star made his first start since August in the game against Liverpool and looked brilliant, but after such a long spell out – and following several injury ravaged seasons – Chelsea are being extra careful with him, as Lampard explained.

🗣 "We have to protect a couple of the players in the squad."

Frank Lampard on why N'Golo Kante does not start and the other Chelsea changes pic.twitter.com/gxYs1GA99v

— Football Daily (@footballdaily) April 8, 2023

“We have to protect a couple of the players in the squad,” Lampard said.

“With the amount of games we’ve got coming up over the next two weeks, there’s no worries with N’Golo. We’re fine with him. We’re managing him through.

We’re fine with that – much better to have Kante fit and firing for the game against Real Madrid when we will really need him than playing in this fairly meaningless mid-table clash against Wolves. Conor Gallagher replaces him, with a great chance to impress his new boss.