Kanté misses training but Chelsea ‘have not given up hope’ — report

N’Golo Kanté apparently drove himself to Cobham on Monday and was “moving freely enough” as the Chelsea medical department got to work on assessing what’s been generally described as a “twisted knee” suffered in during yesterday’s training.

Those are dangerous words in professional sports — as someone who was recently diagnosed with a torn ACL and is scheduled for surgery next month, I can only cringe — and initial reports did not sound too positive, but according to Dom Fifield of the Guardian, Chelsea have not ruled him out for Wednesday’s final just yet.

The squad will travel to Baku later today, so we should know pretty soon what the Chelsea doctors found in their tests. Presumably, Kanté wouldn’t have to travel if the injury is very serious.

Youngsters Conor Gallagher and George McEachran will look to make up numbers in Baku, with Chelsea essentially down to the three healthy starters in midfield: Jorginho (who trained today after some reports of a knock), Ross Barkley, and Mateo Kovacic.