Kante plays in Chelsea friendly against Reading
N’Golo Kante featured for Chelsea as they geared up for the resumption of the season with a friendly against Reading.
Chelsea won 1-0 at their Cobham training ground, where Pedro scored the only goal of the match.
Kante, whose season has been marred by injury problems, was involved in the game, as was Christian Pulisic.
Kante resumed full contact training this week, having previously trained alone because he had concerns about contracting coronavirus.
Kante fainted after a training session in 2018 and his brother died of a heart attack the same year.
Chelsea were supportive of Kante’s stance and the French midfielder, 29, was initially allowed to train from home while his team-mates returned to limited training.
Kante’s troubled season
He has been a key player since arriving from Leicester City in 2016 but has been hampered by injury problems in recent months.
Kante suffered a knee injury towards the end of last season and this term has also been affected by ankle, groin and hamstring problems.
It has limited him to 18 Premier League appearances this season but Chelsea will be hoping he can play a major part in the run-in as Frank Lampard’s side look to seal a Champions League spot.
Pulisic, meanwhile, will be looking to re-establish himself in the Chelsea side after being sidelined by injury prior to matches being suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Tammy Abraham and Ruben Loftus-Cheek also played in Wednesday’s game.
Abraham was struggling with an ankle problem when the season was halted in March, while Loftus-Cheek had returned following a long spell out after rupturing his Achilles tendon.
Return to action close
The campaign is due to restart the week after next, with Chelsea scheduled to play away at Aston Villa on 21 June and at home to Manchester City four days later.
Chelsea will resume in fourth place – three points clear of fifth-placed Manchester United and five clear of both Wolves and Sheffield United.
Lampard’s side are scheduled to play a friendly against west London neighbours QPR before the season restarts.
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