Kanté doubtful for Norwich after ankle sprain; Rudiger, Hudson-Odoi, James not ready yet

N’Golo Kanté, who’s been dealing with one injury or another since the end of last season, is again an injury doubt for tomorrow’s away game against Norwich City. We’d suggest resting him, but considering how important he is to the team and the team’s need to get a win on the board for Frank Lampard, that’s almost a practical impossibility.

“N’Golo Kante has got an injury he has carried all week. We are going to assess that over the next 24 hours to see if he’s fit. It’s an ankle sprain. Rudiger is not fit yet, hopefully not next week.

“Those are the only changes from where we were last week. Pedro missed open training on Tuesday as he has contributed a lot physically during a busy week with three games, and had a couple of small aches. It was a precaution taking him out for a couple of days but he has trained the last two days.”

Despite playing 90 (low-key) minutes for the reserves on Monday, it sounds like Rüdiger isn’t all that close to competitive first-team action. Same could be said for Callum Hudson-Odoi, who returned to training this past week and was cheered heartily throughout the open training session held at Stamford Bridge in midweek, as well as Reece James, who’s been doing fitness work away from the first-team as he recovers from ankle surgery. All three are only expected back after the September international break.

“Callum’s training, he’s looking bright and sharp, but we are in the zone where it’s about protecting him and getting condition and fitness, particularly with his injury. He’s had a quite a long time out. Same with Rudiger slightly. We have to be careful.

“The international break comes at a good time for us with both those and Reece James. They are all in a position where I hope two or three weeks of strong training puts them right in the frame to be back in the squad and available.”

-Frank Lampard; source: Chelsea FC

It will be nice to have all those players back, but until then, we sure could do with a couple wins.