Antonio Conte asked for better passing from N'Golo Kante, rather than goals, the Chelsea midfielder reveals

The Frenchman scored his second goal of the season with a fine strike against Manchester United

Kante is a leading contender for player of the year (Getty)

By adding long-range match-winning goals to his midfield-dominating running, you would think N’Golo Kante had somehow improved on the force he was and become the complete midfielder - but he himself admitted he still has a lot of work to do. The 25-year-old revealed after Chelsea’s 1-0 FA Cup win over Manchester United that Antonio Conte is still working with him on the attacking side of his game.

Kante’s strike was just his second for Chelsea - with the first also against United in the league - and just his third since arriving in English football in the summer of 2015. But, when asked whether the manager had asked him to improve that aspect of his game, he said it was more the quality and thrust of his passing.

“Not especially to score goals. But when I have the pass, to look forward, to try to make me improve. But also when we have the chance to score, we like to create chances and score. It’s important, sometimes it could make the difference for the team, for the game, and when we have the chances to score, we have to score.”

Conte stated on Friday that Kante reminds him of himself, although the French midfielder said that hadn’t been discussed too much on the training ground.

“He didn’t especially tell me that, but we know he was a midfielder, we know his career, we can respect what he did. When he gives you advice, I have to understand and try to improve.

“Sometimes you have some chances, sometimes you can make the difference for the team. We have to score, we have to be able to score. Today I am happy to score, to make the team win 1-0.”

With 13 games left in Chelsea’s season if they do get to the FA Cup final by beating Tottenham Hotspur in the semi-finals, Kante revealed they are aiming to make history and win every single one of them in pursuit of a first English double since 2010.

“We are going to fight for every competition, in the league and the cup. The next game in the league, we have to prepare very well this game. The cup is a target, we are going to play to win every game, we are going to play to win against Tottenham.”

“We have to win every game. First we are going to try to win the next game in the league, against Stoke [City], and when the cup comes, we are going to try to win. It is a good challenge.”

Spurs actually subjected Chelsea to their last defeat this season, ending their 13-game winning run with a 2-0 victory at White Hart Lane, but Kante feels they have learned from that.

“I think when we lost, we have to think about why we lost. That’s what we do. Tottenham was our last defeat, we have to keep going, we react very well after Tottenham and we have to keep going. We have learned from our defeat.”