N'Golo Kante will not feature in Chelsea's FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United, Frank Lampard has confirmed.
The midfielder has not featured since the Watford match after picking up another hamstring injury which has disrupted the majority of his 2019/20 season.
He has subsequently missed wins over Crystal Palace and Norwich City as well as the Sheffield United loss where his absence was highlighted as the main reason for the 3-0 reverse.
And the Blues will have to make do without the France international at Wembley Stadium as he has not recovered in time.
"N'Golo Kante won't be fit for the match, he's still not right. So he's out," Lampard confirmed 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."
Having played on Tuesday night, the Blues have a significant advantage over the Red Devils who were in action on Thursday night against Crystal Palace.
Something which Ole Gunnar Solskjaer claims is 'unfair' scheduling.
"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," the United boss said earlier in the week.
"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."
