Frank Lampard has reportedly suffered a big injury blow as Chelsea midfielder N’Golo Kante could be facing three weeks on the sidelines.
The 28-year-old lasted just 11 minutes against Manchester United on Monday night, as he appeared to pick up a muscle problem.
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With so many crucial games coming up for Lampard’s side, the last thing that the Chelsea boss needed at this stage is to be without his combative and influential midfield star.
Unfortunately for him, that’s exactly what he’s now facing according to L’Equipe, who report that Kante suffered a grade 2 adductor injury and could now be facing up to three weeks on the sidelines to get treatment.
Should that recovery timeline prove to be accurate, that would see him miss crunch games against Tottenham, Bournemouth, Bayern Munich and Liverpool in the FA Cup.
With Chelsea now just a point ahead of the chasing pack in the Premier League standings in the battle for Champions League qualification, the last thing that they needed is to lose any of their key players as they can ill-afford any more slip-ups.
With L’Equipe adding that Kante could return to face Everton on March 8, those are still two decisive league games he’ll be absent for as well as the first leg against Bayern in their Champions League round-of-16 tie and the encounter with Liverpool as they look to keep their trophy hopes alive.
Given the nature of the injury too, it’s not one that Chelsea will take any risks with and they will not rush Kante back as the last thing they’ll want is to see him aggravate the problem and be ruled out for even longer.
In turn, it’s a terrible blow for the Blues, and so now Lampard will need others to step up and fill that void starting against Tottenham on Saturday with Kante making 22 appearances so far this season and remaining a pivotal figure in midfield with his energy, work ethic and technical quality.