N’Golo Kante among 3 Chelsea stars who will miss Crystal Palace trip

However, they will have to do that without the services of the three players who are understood to be nursing different degrees of injuries.

Kante picked up a hamstring problem during the second half of his side’s victory over the Hornets at Stamford Bridge.

On his part, Kovacic has missed the Blues’ last two fixtures including last week’s 3-2 shock defeat at West Ham United after injuring his Achilles.

Frank Lampoard will be short of midfield options when Chelsea take on Crystal Palace. Photo: Getty Images.
Source: Getty Images

As for Timori, Lampard revealed he is due to miss the Palace encounter after he suffered a “set-back” but he is expected to be back to the squad soon enough.

“Kante won’t be in the squad. He hurt his hamstring, it is a low level hamstring injury, maybe a week (before he returns),” Lampard told reporters in his news conference.

“Kovacic trained with us but won’t be ready. (Fikayo) Tomori had a setback, hopefully (he is) back next week,” he added.

However, the Englishman will be boosted by the availability of Jorginho, with the Italian expected to return to the fold against the Eagles.

Chelsea occupy fourth place in the standings with 57 points, just two ahead of Man United and one behind Leicester who sit third.

Victory at Selhurst Park will be enough to see them momentarily leapfrog Leicester to third.