Frank Lampard has confirmed that Emerson Palmieri won't return to action for Chelsea until after the next international break.
The Italy international picked up a muscle injury while playing for his country, but made his return for the Blues during the 2-1 defeat to Liverpool on Sunday.
However, the 25-year-old lasted just 16 minutes of the game with a re-occurrence of the injury and had to be replaced by Marcos Alonso.
And now Alonso is set for a lot more action, with Emerson being confirmed as out until at least the Blues play Newcastle United on October 19 in the Premier League.
"Emerson now won’t be back until the other side of the international break [which is during mid-October]," Lampard confirmed.
"It will be a few weeks because it is the re-occurrence of an injury so we have to be a bit careful with it."
Andreas Christensen was another injury blow during Sunday's game at Stamford Bridge, coming off in the first half after taking a knock to the back of the knee.
However, Lampard is not expecting the Dane to be out of action for the long term and instead fighting for a place once again.
"Andreas is not too severe," Lampard added. "Hopefully he won’t be out for too long but I can’t give a timeframe."
Christensen is set to be rested for Grimsby Town tomorrow night in the Carabao Cup, with the Blues hoping to have him back for their next Premier League match.
