Chelsea boss Frank Lampard insists he's not asking N'Golo Kante to play like Claude Makelele.

Kante has been employed in a deep midfield role since the season restart.

Lampard said today, "It is a different position to what I'm asking from Kante to what Makelele played. With eras and the players around you that changes. With N'Golo I have a way I want us to work in midfield to have some fluidity to us, which allows N'Golo to bring his best attributes to the game. They are not always to sit in front of the back four.

"He has such capacity for high-intensity running and to leave areas, you want him to go and do that, which sometimes leaves him higher up the pitch and the other midfielders have to react. He's done it well. We can improve as a unit the more everybody works on it together. N'Golo's attributes and his absolute quality mean he can play in any position you want him to.

"He is an incredible player and is huge for this club, and he will be going forward for a long time. I'm happy with him. It's not just about N'Golo, it's about the other players in the squad. We have a lot of competition in midfield, and at the moment N'Golo is doing a really good job for us there."