Frank Lampard has confirmed N'Golo Kante will miss this weekend's FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United.
The Frenchman has missed Chelsea 's last three games after sustaining a hamstring injury in the win against Watford on July 4.
Kante's absence was felt by the London side as they slipped to a 3-0 defeat by Sheffield United last week and the Frenchman will not return against United.
"N'Golo Kante won't be fit for the match, he's still not right. So he's out," Lampard said in his pre-match press conference. "Other than that we have a few people with a few little niggles that I'll monitor over the next 24 hours or so, and then we'll be ready to go."
Chelsea will have benefitted from two days' extra rest come kick-off on Sunday having played against Norwich on Tuesday. United maintained their push for a top four finish in the Premier League by beating Crystal Palace on Thursday.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer questioned the fixture schedulers prior to United's trip to Selhurst Park.
He said: "It’s not going to be a problem and a concern for us but 24 hours, 48 hours is a big difference at this time so we've not been handed four Aces, to put it that way, for the last two weeks.
"But we’re going to have to put on a Poker face and play the cards well.
"It almost always boils down to the last couple of weeks at Man United. A couple of times you’re maybe already secure in winning the league or a safe position but it comes down to Cup finals, comes down to the last game of the season to either be a champion.
"So it’s just a great challenge for [the players] to have that feeling representing this great club and knowing that they trust us to be a part of the team going for important positions."
