Chelsea will travel to Selhurst Park to take on Crystal Palace without the duo of defensive midfielder, N’Golo Kante and striker, Alvaro Morata. Kante picked up a hamstring injury during the international break, while Morata limped off during the game against Manchester City at Stamford Bridge.
Speaking during his pre-match press conference on Friday, manager, Antonio Conte confirmed that both players will surely miss the trip to face the Eagles, with Kante’s more serious as he is expected to be out for at least 20 days.
“Team news? Bad news! As you know we have three injured players,” Conte said, according to the club’s website. “I hope to have him [Morata] back very soon, for the next game against Roma. On Kante, Conte revealed that the France international is a big loss, as he requires more scan to ascertain how he’s faring. “We are going to do a scan next week to check his situation to see if he is improving,” he added. “For sure it is a muscular problem, a hamstring problem. This is a big loss for us.
“You know very well the importance of N’Golo Kante in our team. We don’t have another player with the same characteristics.
There was some positive news, however, as the Italian confirmed that new signing, Danny Drinkwater was on his way back, but not ready for action.
”Drinkwater is progressing well but is not ready yet. We must have patience with him, with his calf problem.”
