Chelsea have suffered a huge injury blow ahead of their Champions League clash with Juventus.
The Blues are back in Champions League action on Wednesday as they look to build on their opening group stage win over Zenit.
They will also be looking to bounce back from a disappointing defeat to potential title rivals Manchester City last time out.
But as they make the trip to Turin, they will be without one key star in midfielder N’Golo Kante.
According to Goal, Kante has dropped out of Chelsea’s squad to face Juventus due to illness, and he is also set to miss this weekend’s Premier League clash with Southampton.
The midfielder had only just returned having struggled with a groin injury during the early stages of the season, but he is now set for another spell on the sidelines.
It is unconfirmed whether Covid is involved, but illness is the reason given for his expected absence for the next two outings.
Kante is an imperative cog in Thomas Tuchel’s midfield, and it will be a bitter blow for Chelsea to lose him before such a key game in their Champions League campaign.
Having said that, the Frenchman missed many of the season’s early outings and Chelsea were not prevented from getting off to a fine start, so Tuchel will be hoping the rest of his men can manage a similar result over the course of this week.