Tuchel: Kante is Chelsea's Mohamed Salah, Kylian Mbappe or Neymar

Thomas Tuchel

said that Chelsea needs to find a way to help

get back in shape after the Blues tied 1-1 with Leicester City despite being down a goal.

Marcos Alonso scored on a header to cancel out James Maddison's goal in front of Todd Boehly, who is part of a group trying to buy the club. The Blues are almost certain to finish third in the Premier League, even though they have only won one of their last five league games (three draws, one loss).

Tuchel's team has now tied 11 league games this season, which is more than they have done in a single season since 2015-16, when they tied 10 games and finished 10th. Kante, who won the World Cup, played for 72 minutes against his old team before being replaced by

Ruben Loftus-Cheek

. He has been linked with a move away because his contract at Stamford Bridge is up in 2023.

The 31-year-old has only started 20 of the Blues' 37 league games this season. He has played in the Premier League for a total of 1,688 minutes and has not played at all in 12 of the team's league games.

In his press conference after the game, Tuchel called the midfielder Chelsea's "key player" and stressed the need to fix his fitness problems. Tuchel also compared Kante to Mohammed Salah, Kylian Mbappe, and a few other world stars, saying that when he is healthy, he lifts the rest of the team.

"I think he's one of our most important players, but important players need to be on the field. He only plays in 40% of the games, so it's probably a miracle that we're in third place, said Tuchel. "He is our Mo Salah, he is our [Virgil] van Dijk, he is our [Kevin] De Bruyne. He is just that player. He is our

Neymar

and

Kylian Mbappe

.

"He is the guy who makes the difference, and if you only have him for 40%, that is a huge problem. Given that number, it may be a miracle that he gets anything done at all. It puts everything in perspective because I watched Liverpool last season without Van Dijk, and they had a hard time. You see what I mean. N'Golo is our most important player, and we can't win without him."

"It makes life hard. It's important for him to be there and know the rhythm. I thought he did okay, but I know he can do so much better. But when did he start the last game? It's been weeks. So he keeps getting into a rhythm, but as soon as he does, he gets hurt and has to leave again.

"He won the [man of the match] award in the last five Champions League games last year. This guy gets man of the match every time he plays in the Champions League, but he only shows up for about 40% of the games. This means a lot to us." Chelsea, on the other hand, had to rely on their wing-backs to help them attack against the Foxes.

set up Alonso's goal, giving him his eighth league assist of the season.

He added, "We were the better team, and we deserved to win." "We didn't give them any chances, but a shot from outside the box cost us. We made enough chances to win, and we didn't let Leicester make any. So, I'm happy with how it went. "It's been said a lot, but we didn't get what we deserved. We needed a goal and an assist from a wing-back."

On Sunday, relegated Watford will come to Stamford Bridge to play Chelsea in Chelsea's last Premier League game at home.

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