Ahead of Chelsea’s latest Champions League outing, Graham Potter has reported a setback for N’Golo Kante in his recovery from a hamstring injury.
The Chelsea head coach was talking at San Siro shortly after landing in Italy ahead of tomorrow’s fourth game in his season’s group stage.
The team trained at Cobham prior to travelling. Three players, Hakim Ziyech and Wesley Fofana as well as Kante were absent from that session and none of those made the journey.
AC Milan vs Chelsea Kante injury update
‘On , we are waiting on a reaction in training, and we’re waiting for the news on that,’ Potter reported.
‘It is not ideal, and certainly disappointing for both him and for us. So we have to wait and see the extent and then go from there.'
AC Milan vs Chelsea Ziyech update
‘Hakim is ill,’ explained the head coach. ‘Hakim has a sore throat and that is why he has not travelled.’
Potter on the joy of having Thiago Silva
Potter confirmed that all the other players in the squad are available to play and are not troubled by any recent knocks or illnesses, including Thiago Silva who was rested completely from the weekend win over Wolves having had a cold, but is in Italy where he was part of the press conference too.
‘The fact that we could rotate a few has probably helped us in terms of availability for this game,’ said Potter, 'and hopefully the freshness. We are going to really need that as it will be a tough match, a really physically demanding game.
‘Thiago was okay when we played AC Milan but he just got a little bit worse as the week went on. Because there was only two days in between the games it made no sense to play him again. But he's recovered well, and he's been incredibly impressive on and off the pitch. As a leader, he's a top professional, and a top person so he's been a joy to work with.
‘I think the decision on how long he continues playing is Thiago’s,’ Potter added. ‘I’ve been here three or four weeks. I see his qualities. The level he can play at, the performance levels he can reach, the amount of respect he has throughout the game is just incredible.
‘So all I can do is try and help him enjoy his football here, be part of a winning team, and then the rest of the stuff is something for him and the club to think about.’
AC Milan vs Chelsea injury list
Wesley Fofana is not involved in this game as he recovers from a knee sprain sustained against Milan in the home game. Graham Potter reported on Friday that the player is out for a few weeks but may recover to play before the break for the World Cup.