Frank Lampard confirms four Chelsea stars who will miss Burnley clash

Chelsea manager Frank Lampard has confirmed that there has been no improvement of the fitness front ahead of Saturday’s late Premier League kick-off at Burnley.

The quartet of N’Golo Kante, Ross Barkley, Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger were ruled out for the recent Champions League clash against Ajax and neither of them are expected to feature at Turf Moor on Sunday.

Speaking in a press conference, Lampard said that the club are unlikely to rush Kante back into first-team action, considering he has picked up a number of niggles since the start of the season. He added that the Frenchman is training aside from his teammates and there is no particular timeline for his comeback.

“N’Golo won’t be ready. He’s training on his own with some physical work because he’s had a few issues. We need to get him right now because he’s been in and out through the season as we all know. There’s no real timeframe on it. I just want him fit,” he told.

Elsewhere, Lampard confirmed that Rudiger has been making positive progress since his return from a groin concern and hinted that the German stands the chance of making his comeback before the November international break.

“Rudiger won’t be ready for the weekend, but he’s getting closer. He’s outside training with us. Rudi’s close now, so he should hopefully be involved with us in the next week or two,” he added.

Aside from the duo, Christensen and Barkley continue to remain sidelined with hamstring and ankle injuries respectively but Lampard has highlighted that the latter could return to action as early as next week.

The Blues are currently on a six-match winning run across all competitions and they are presently fourth in the Premier League while topping their Champions League group on the head-to-head record over Ajax.

The west London giants don’t have the best of record against Burnley with just two wins from the previous five meetings and it remains to be seen whether Lampard makes any changes with the game scheduled less than 72 hours after the midweek Amsterdam trip.