Chelsea’s N’Golo Kanté set to miss Europa League final with knee injury• Midfielder hurt in training and being assessed
• Chelsea play Arsenal in Baku on Wednesday
Chelsea’s preparations for Wednesday’s Europa League final have endured another serious setback after N’Golo Kanté suffered a knee injury in training which is expected to rule him out of the showpiece in Baku. Kanté is understood to have damaged the knee in a session on Saturday and departed the pitch in clear discomfort, with Chelsea’s medical staff due to assess the joint on Sunday afternoon to ascertain the gravity of the injury. However, their initial impressions are believed to have been far from promising. The France midfielder had missed the previous two games after sustaining a hamstring injury in the victory over Watford this month but had recovered sufficiently to resume training at Cobham early last week. Maurizio Sarri was confident the World Cup winner would be fit to feature in the final against Arsenal, with Chelsea’s squad due to depart for Baku on Monday afternoon.
Those hopes appear to have been dashed, leaving Sarri considering selecting a midfield trio of Ross Barkley, Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic. Kanté would become the fourth senior player ruled out of the final, with the other three in rehabilitation from long-term injuries. Antonio Rudiger suffered his own knee problems in the run-in and, having hobbled off after suffering a relapse in the draw at Manchester United, underwent surgery to repair the meniscus in the joint in his left leg. Chelsea hope to have him available for pre-season, though that will come too soon for Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, whose ruptured achilles tendons required operations. Both would have featured for England in next month’s Nations League in Portugal.
Hudson-Odoi, so impressive since breaking into the team, fell awkwardly during a home draw with Burnley in April, while Loftus-Cheek saw his best run of form in a Chelsea shirt interrupted after he suffered his own injury during the team’s appearance in a charity match in Boston after the conclusion of the Premier League season. “I’m sure he will be able to return stronger,” said Sarri of the midfielder. “I don’t know the timing because it’s very difficult to say now: four months to six months.”
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/may/26/chelsea-ngolo-kante-europa-league-final-knee-injury-arsenal-training [ 此帖被羅力亞在2019-05-29 00:21重新編輯 ]