N'Golo Kante's work-rate, midfield tenacity and tireless displays were a major factor in Leicester City's shock Premier League win and earned the previously unheralded Frenchman a £30million move to Chelsea.

But those qualities were certainly not in evidence as his side collapsed to a 3-0 defeat at rivals Arsenal on Saturday, during which Kante was embarrassingly beaten in a footrace by referee Michael Oliver.

He was expected to bring the same level of commitment to a Chelsea midfield badly needing an anchor to allow their creative players to shine, but after being turned inside the Arsenal half in the build-up to the Gunners' third goal, he failed to track back and was a spectator as Mesut Ozil beat Thibaut Courtois.

N'Golo Kante was beaten by referee Michael Oliver as he tracked back to stop Arsenal's third

He had started ahead of Oliver after being turned by Mesut Ozil in his own half on Saturday

Kante began to track back but not at the speed expected from the former Leicester man

By the time Ozil fired the ball home, Kante had given up and was behind referee Oliver

Kante showed little urgency to make up for his error as Ozil burst away from him and, with referee Oliver trailing him at this stage, he cruised back into his own half while defender Cesar Azpilicueta also drifted back into position.

Ozil's one-two with Alexis Sanchez ended with the German volleying the ball into the ground, over Courtois and into the net, at which point Kante arrived in the area, with Oliver, 31, a few strides ahead of him.

Kante was the first player in any of Europe's top five leagues to reach 100 tackles last season, a feat he achieved by February, which was part of the reason why he was compared to former Chelsea enforcer Claude Makelele after completing his move to Stamford Bridge.

Kante was turned by Ozil inside the Arsenal half before the Gunners broke to score their third

Kante (right) looked a like a different player to the one who helped Leicester win the league

Makelele admitted he can see a lot of himself in Kante, but the man who won two Premier League titles at Stamford Bridge is not sure his successor can be described as being 'better' than he was.

'It is a position where it is difficult to play,' he said.

'You must be a leader. You must work with your team-mates in midfield. I like N'Golo Kante, but is he better than me at this?

'I do not know. He still needs time to fully learn the job, to learn about football.'