Chelsea's N'Golo Kante ruled out for three weeks with abductor injury

Saturday 22 February 2020 14:09, UK

Chelsea midfielder N'Golo Kante has been ruled out for three weeks with an abductor injury, head coach Frank Lampard has confirmed.

Kante was taken off on Monday during Chelsea's 2-0 defeat to Manchester United at Stamford Bridge.

The midfielder will miss Saturday's game with Tottenham, and other key fixtures including the Champions League round-of-16 first leg against Bayern Munich and FA Cup fifth-round tie with Liverpool.

"N'Golo is not fit, he has a muscle injury similar to the one he came off recently against Arsenal with," Lampard said.

"Hopefully it'll be three weeks."

Chelsea will welcome back Ruben Loftus-Cheek into the squad following an extended absence with the Achilles injury he suffered at the end of last season, while Tammy Abraham will be considered for selection.

Andreas Christiansen, sporting a mask for a broken nose, is available for Lampard, who is keen for the defender to pick up where he left off following a run of impressive performances, but Christian Pulisic remains on the treatment table.

Lampard also believes Chelsea fans are understanding of what the team are trying to achieve and thinks another test against top-four opponents is exactly the type of game they need.

He said: "What I'm getting from fans is I think they are recognising the way the team is trying to play.

"I'm not sure many teams in the Premier League have had our injuries. Five huge ones at the start of the season, big ones now in the season.

"N'Golo Kante has played 50 per cent of the games when he's been a regular starter for the last four years. We've got a lot so I think the fans respect that, but we want to win games.

"I think it's not a bad timing of a game of it's type for us. We need to stand up, we need to fight. Tottenham are one point behind, teams are close behind us."

Much has been made about Jose Mourinho's return to Stamford Bridge as Tottenham head coach but Lampard refused to be drawn on what kind of reception he might receive.

Nor will the Chelsea head coach entertain suggestions a weakened Spurs, minus Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son, are there for the taking, pointing to how they coped without Kane under Mourinho's predecessor Mauricio Pochettino.

"Tottenham are on a good run of form and clearly an incredible player like Harry Kane is a miss and now Son is a miss, but it always amazed me the stats when Pochettino was manager," Lampard said.

"Kane was injured a few times and they remained a force because they had players that could fill in.

"Players like Dele Alli, whose game is to arrive from slightly behind and break lines consistently, Lucas Moura similarly has qualities, (Steven) Bergwijn has come in and has those similar qualities.

"I've watched a lot of them recently and they are a threat. This is a London derby against Tottenham. Whatever team they put out it will always be a threat in this type of game."