Chelsea boss delivers fresh injury update on N’Golo Kante ahead of Lille clash

Chelsea manager Frank Lampard has said that the Blues need to be extra careful with the fitness of midfielder N’Golo Kante following his minor hamstring injury in the lead up to the Brighton & Hove Albion game last weekend.

Kante made his comeback from an ankle sprain to face Liverpool earlier this month but he has since suffered a fresh muscular concern which was the reason behind his exclusion for the weekend’s Premier League clash.

Earlier on Saturday, Lampard had hinted that Kante could return to the squad for the midweek Champions League encounter against Lille, but fresh quotes from Goal.com indicate that won’t be the case with the 41-year-old wanting to be extra careful with Kante’s situation.

“This little niggle he had is a small, small injury. We just need to get it right. We are just careful and it is my duty to work with him. The medical team are working so hard with him. With N’Golo, when we do get him to where we want him to be, we will be stronger with him,” he told in a press conference.

Apart from Kante, the likes of Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Emerson, Kurt Zouma and Olivier Giroud were unavailable for the 2-0 win over Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday but the latter two could return to the mix to face the Ligue 1 side.

Zouma missed the Brighton game through an illness while Giroud was likewise omitted from the matchday squad as he had not sufficiently gained fitness after falling sick prior to the Liverpool clash earlier this month.

Chelsea suffered a disappointing 1-0 home defeat to Valencia in the Champions League group stage opener and Lampard will be hoping for a positive result at the Stade Pierre Mauroy to avoid losing ground on the top two.