CLAUDE Puel believes Saints' Oriol Romeu is of a similar standard to Chelsea’s newly-crowned PFA Players’ Player of the Year N’Golo Kante.

Kante has been one of the most exceptional players in the Premier League over the past two seasons and is now aiming for his second title with tomorrow night's opponents Chelsea, having won the top-flight with Leicester in his first campaign in England.

Frenchman Puel has compared his compatriot Kante to his own defensive midfielder, Romeu, and reckons there isn’t too much to choose between the pair.

“It’s an important player for this team because he can do fantastic work to recover the ball and start the play,” he said about Kante.

“For me N’Golo is the same quality as Romeu with us.

“It’s an important player and without him for Chelsea it’s difficult and the same with Romeu, it’s difficult for us without him.”

The Spaniard has been one of the stand-out players for Saints this term and will return to duty at Chelsea tomorrow night after serving a two-match suspension.

“I think he’s not far off Kante,” he said. “If we see the quality of his games since the beginning of the season, for me, he [Romeu] is not far off Kante because he’s very consistent and every game he gives good performances, with consistency and quality.

“[Romeu] is strong on the recovery of the ball and has a lot of qualities to start on the ball.

“He’s very good player for me and the same level [as Kante].

“We will see for the future, we are confident in him and, for me, he can look to a selection with Spain, for example.”