Chelsea manager Frank Lampard has confirmed that Billy Gilmour, N’Golo Kante and Fikayo Tomori will miss the Blues’ away Premier League clash against Sheffield United on Saturday evening due to injury.
He also confirmed that Mateo Kovacic is back in the squad to face Sheffield after the midfielder recovered from injury.
According to Lampard, Gilmour had an operation on his keen on Friday morning, Kante is still recovering from a hamstring strain, while Tomori is close to fitness.
The Blues boss said this on Friday afternoon during his pre-match press conference. Chelsea defeated Crystal Palace 3-2 in their last Premier League clash on Tuesday.
“Billy Gilmour has had an operation on his knee this morning,” Lampard said as quoted by Chelsea’s official website.
“Unfortunately we estimate he will be out for somewhere between three and four months. I’m obviously very disappointed as we all are here, and Billy is himself. I spoke with him yesterday at length and just gave him support, being there for him.”
Lampard added: “N’Golo Kante remains unavailable with his hamstring strain.
“Fikayo Tomori is close to fitness but will not be involved tomorrow against Sheffield United. However, Mateo Kovacic is back in the squad.”
Sheffield United are assessing John Fleck and David McGoldrick after they both missed the Blades’ midweek victory over Wolves through injury.
Oli McBurnie is also being monitored, having lasted just 49 minutes on Wednesday because of fatigue.
What a great result Sheffield United got at home to Wolves on Wednesday, thanks to John Egan’s last-gasp winner.
The Blades have certainly responded in the past few days when it looked like they might start to fall away – and it shows just how well Chris Wilder runs that team.
He has had so many of those players for so long, he knows exactly what they are capable of and he also knows how to get the best out of them. They know he knows that too, which is just as important.
The kick-off time for the game is 5:30 pm.
