Frank Lampard has revealed that N’Golo Kante is a doubt for Chelsea’s trip to Norwich this weekend, but provided more positive updates on the fitness of Callum Hudson-Odoi and Antonio Rudiger.
Hudson-Odoi has returned to training following a serious Achilles injury suffered in April, though Lampard says the club will be patient with the highly-rated 18-year-old as they aim to ease him back into first-team football.
“He is training, looking bright and sharp,” Lampard said at his pre-match press conference. “But we want to protect him as he has had a long time out.”
France international Kante’s injury problems continue with Lampard revealing the 28-year-old is a doubt for Chelsea‘s trip to Carrow Road.
Kante struggled with a knee injury in the early weeks of the season and the midfielder is now a doubt with a fresh injury problem.
There was, however, positive news on German international Rudiger, who has returned to training following a serious knee injury.
Lampard admits Saturday’s clash with Norwich will come too soon for the centre-back, though he is contention for next weekend’s game with Sheffield United at Stamford Bridge.
“Kante has got an injury, so we will assess that over 24 hours,” he said.
“Rudiger not fit yet, hopefully, next week. Pedro missed open training only because he contributed a lot over three weeks. That was just a precaution.”
Lampard was later asked to confirm what the nature of Kante’s injury was, to which he simply replied, “Ankle, an ankle sprain.”
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