Chelsea duo N'Golo Kante and Nemanja Matic hailed as the 'perfect little-and-large partnership'

Chelsea midfielders N'Golo Kante and Nemanja Matic are a "perfect little-and-large" partnership, according to Jamie Redknapp. The Blues have won their last five Premier League games without conceding a goal and Redknapp thinks the partnership between the diminutive Frenchman and the muscular Serb has been central to their recent success.

The pundit credited Chelsea boss Antonio Conte with getting the best from his squad, after they under-performed during the 2015/16 campaign. Redknapp also said that the switch to his favoured 3-4-3 formation is paying dividends for the Stamford Bridge club.

"Chelsea are so good at the moment it's like watching a team on FIFA 17! Antonio Conte has taken the players who under-performed last year and got them organised and brimming with confidence," Redknapp said of Chelsea's improved form, as quoted by the Daily Mail.

"Changing the system has worked wonders but you can only do it if you have the right players. Conte now has two wing backs who love to get forward and the best defensive midfielders of the last two years in Nemanja Matic and N'Golo Kante.

"If I was playing against those two I'd be thinking, 'Where am I going to get any space?' They are the perfect little-and-large combination – you can't beat Matic in the air and Kante is so dynamic."

Redknapp also said that Chelsea's new-look formation has helped to get the best out of their much-maligned summer recruit David Luiz, who has excelled since his £34m ($42.2m) move back to west London.

"[Kante and Matic] break up play and win so many second balls. It's why David Luiz is looking so good – he has so much protection in front of him," he said after Chelsea hammered Everton 5-0 at the weekend. "Everton tried to emulate Chelsea's system and were no match for them. Playing this way, Conte's side have teams on the back foot."