Chelsea suffer Chalobah injury blow but Kante in line for return at West Ham United

N’Golo Kante will return to the Chelsea midfield tomorrow at West Ham as Chelsea start a hectic December programme of matches as they strive to stay top of the Premier League.

Kante twisted his knee in the victory over Juventus and missed the draw against Manchester United and the fortunate win over Watford on Wednesday night. But he will be risked by head coach Thomas Tuchel. The French international’s guile and energy was sorely missed in the Blues’ 2-1 victory at Vicarage Road.

Mateo Kovacic (hamstring) and Ben Chilwell (knee) are both out until at least January.

The Blues will also be without Trevoh Chalobah, who suffered a hamstring injury against the Hornets – Andreas Christensen will step in with Thiago Silva starting. Toni Rudiger and Marcos Alonso are expected to keep their places while Reece James will return following a minor muscle problem.
Jorginho should return to midfield to partner Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Mason Mount.

Tuchel’s main decision is up front and whether Romelu Lukaku’s best contribution is from a starting position or impact substitution. Lukaku is working his way back to full fitness following an ankle injury.

Hakim Ziyech, the hero of Vicarage Road with the winner that keeps the Blues one point ahead of second-place Liverpool, could be rewarded with a starting spot following his impressive display from the bench.

Loanee Saul Niguez will return to the bench following his anaemic performance at Watford that saw the Spain midfielder substituted at half-time.

Tuchel has been left bemused by the Atletico Madrid midfielder’s poor  contribution. He said: “I don’t know where he goes from this performance.”

Of his substitution, he tried to turn it into a match management  decision. He said: “Saul was on a yellow card so we had two options – take Marcos off, who also had a yellow card, and try Saul as a wing-back.

“I had this in my mind before the game – if something happened to Marcos. I thought maybe it was not the right match to try things with new positions..”

West Ham will have been buoyed by Watford’s dominating performance, where they pressed Chelsea’s defence to breaking point on occasions and harassed the Blues’ midfield into needless errors.

Tuchel said: “It was very  sloppy and it was a very unusual performance for us.

“I had the feeling we were not ready. I didn’t prepare them for what was coming because it was the first time we completely underperformed as a team.

“We didn’t win first balls, second balls, we did not cope well with the pressure. It is one thing to win or lose challenges but we did not even find them.

“There are reasons that it wasn’t easy for us, Watford played with lots of enthusiasm and we struggled in the basics. We got a lucky win. We stole three points.

“The doctor was on the field 20 times to treat players. It is a big loss with Trevoh. We already have some injured key players so I am a bit worried because the next game is Saturday at 12.30.”

Emma Hayes will assess the fitness of her Chelsea charges following the latest round of World Cup qualifiers and friendlies as they prepare to face Arsenal in the FA Women’s Cup final at Wembley on Sunday (2pm).

The match between the current top two sides in England is a carry-over from last season due to covid. Hayes has a fully-fit squad.