Fikayo Tomori and Mateo Kovacic will miss Chelsea's clash against Watford, head coach Frank Lampard has revealed.
The central defender picked up a muscle injury during training ahead of the Premier League restart, causing him to sit out wins over Aston Villa, Manchester City and Leicester City.
He was spotted in training ahead of the defeat by West Ham United earlier in the week, which would suggest he is close to making a return.
However, Saturday's game at Stamford Bridge comes too soon for Tomori.
"Fikayo is still not fit," Lampard confirmed in his pre-match press conference. "He's hopefully going to be training with us next week.
"He's doing a lot of work, it's just in terms of the last bit, getting him on the training pitch, it's been tough."
Joining Tomori on the sidelines is midfielder Kovacic.
The Croatia international came off early in the second half at the London Stadium with a knock which has now been revealed as an Achilles problem which could also cause him to miss Tuesday's game at Crystal Palace.
"Kovacic is going to be out of this game," Lampard added. "He hurt his Achilles in the West Ham game and we'll miss him in this one and probably the next one, but hopefully he won't be too long after that."
With Tomori still unavailable, Lampard will have to choose between Andreas Christensen, Antonio Rudiger and Kurt Zouma for his central defensive partnership.
Meanwhile, the Blues head coach can call upon the likes of Billy Gilmour, Jorginho, Mason Mount and Ruben Loftus-Cheek to replace Kovacic.
Chelsea beat the Hornets in the reverse meeting earlier in the season and know that completing a league double will ensure they finish this gameweek in the top four.
