Chelsea face Newcastle United on Saturday afternoon and there’s mixed news on the injury front for boss Frank Lampard.
The Blues sit in fifth place in the Premier League table after eight games, picking up 14 points to leave them level with Leicester City in fourth.
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In turn, although they have had their problems, particularly in defence having conceded 14 goals in those eight games, it’s been a decent start overall and they’ll be hoping to build some momentum starting against the Magpies.
However, as confirmed in the club’s tweet below, Lampard will have to hope to do so without both N’Golo Kante and Andreas Christensen as both picked up injuries over the international break.
Kante was forced to withdraw from the France line-up last week after sustaining the problem in his warm up while Christensen was left out earlier this week due to his hamstring problem.
Neither will be available for selection this weekend, although there was positive news from Lampard too as Mateo Kovacic and Ross Barkley are expected to be involved, while Antonio Rudiger sounds as though he is now making progress.
Time will tell whether or not Chelsea will have enough quality on Saturday to see off Newcastle, but given the busy fixture list coming up and ahead of the festive period, Lampard will hope that he can recover his injured players and have a full squad at his disposal.
Lampard reports that Kante is not fit for tomorrow’s game due to a small groin injury. Kovacic has been in training and is in contention. Barkley is fit. Christensen out for two weeks with a hamstring injury. Rudiger now training outside with physios.#CHENEW
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) October 18, 2019
