Chelsea are waiting to assess the severity of a hamstring injury sustained by N’Golo Kanté in France’s World Cup qualifying win in Bulgaria on Saturday but expect to be without the midfielder and Álvaro Morata for the trip to Crystal Palace on Saturday. Kanté hobbled off in the 34th minute of the game in Sofia, which France won 1-0, and was withdrawn from Didier Deschamps’s squad for Tuesday’s final group game against Belarus. The Spanish football federation initially suggested he would be absent for up to six weeks after its scans, conducted in Madrid, revealed a grade-two hamstring injury. Yet Chelsea’s medics have carried out tests and do not believe the injury is as serious as first feared. Chelsea top Group C after impressive victories against Qarabag and, most signficantly, Atlético Madrid where Morata scored their first goal.

Source: The Guardian October 09, 2017 11:15 UTC