N’Golo Kante’s absence has exposed Tiemoue Bakayoko and underlined Nemanja Matic mistake

Chelsea took a gamble this summer. After a dominant title win, they elected to sell, or just plain ditch, three cornerstones of their recent successes. Inspirational and vocal leader John Terry was released; part-time goalscorer, part-time wind-up merchant Diego Costa was exiled; and, most decisively of all, midfield controller Nemanja Matic was sold to a rival. When evolution was required, they instead enacted revolution – and it appears to be backfiring.

Perhaps, had N’Golo Kante not got injured, Chelsea’s issues both on the field and off it would be rather less pronounced. Instead, the club have fallen nine points adrift of early pace-setters Manchester City, while a Champions League campaign that began so promisingly has been brought back down to earth with a resounding thump by Roma. At the same time, Antonio Conte gets more and more frayed.

Admittedly exaggerated by two disastrous defensive showings against the Giallorossi, Chelsea have conceded 14 goals in their last eight games and recorded just a single clean sheet. Across their last four league matches – and despite playing the 19th and 20th placed sides – they have mustered just three more shots on target than they have faced. Over the same period, City have had 25 more shots on target than their opponents.

They are neither defending as resolutely as last season, nor attacking as cohesively. They have lost that elusive quality: balance. It is not normally something you can put a price on, except Chelsea did when they allowed Matic to join United for £40m.