Chelsea boss Frank Lampard has confirmed that his side will be without four first-team stars for the weekend's Premier League fixture against Burnley.
The Blues will travel to Turf Moor for the Saturday evening fixture on the back of an impressive run of form, with six consecutive wins in all competitions since their 2-1 home loss to Liverpool in September.
Lampard's side edged a narrow fixture against Ajax in midweek with Michy Batshuayi coming off the bench to score the game's only goal, having been set up by fellow substitute Christian Pulisic.
The boss had been hoping to welcome back some more first-team players to the squad for the game against Sean Dyche's men.
However, he confirmed in his pre-match press conference that as well as long-term absentee Ruben Loftus-Cheek, a further four players would be missing from the game.
N'Golo Kante and Antonio Rudiger were classed as not ready for the current fixture, with Andreas Christensen and Ross Barkley also absent.
On the subject of Kante, Lampard admitted that he does not know when the midfielder will be able to return, while centre-back Rudiger is being held back with a sense of caution following his long-term injury.
"I don't know [when Kante will be back]," Lampard told reporters.
"I just want him fit. He might be suffering from the big injury at the end of last season. There is no time frame.
"Rudiger had a bad injury, this is a fall-out of last season, that is the nature of it. We need to remember that, but he is close."
