Chelsea midfielder N'Golo Kante is set for another spell on the sidelines, with an illness forcing him to miss Wednesday's Champions League meeting with Juventus.
The Frenchman is yet to manage more than 65 minutes in any game this season but had been hoping to rebuild some momentum after shaking off a groin injury which kept him out of the Blues' first European game, a 1-0 win over Zenit.
He had been expected to feature in Wednesday's game against Juventus, but as revealed by Goal, Kante has picked up an illness which has already ruled him out of the match.
The 30-year-old is also expected to sit out Chelsea's return to Premier League action on Saturday against Southampton.
Kante's absence is an enormous blow for Thomas Tuchel but not one which the manager has not prepared for. On top of the three games he has missed this season, Kante missed another three because of separate issues towards the end of last season and was not even available for Tuchel's first game because of a hamstring injury.
Jorginho is also carrying a knock but will likely keep his spot in the squad against Juventus, and he could be joined by any combination of Mateo Kovacic, Saul Niguez or the reborn Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
Of the trio, it's Saul who is best-suited to fit the Kante void, but the Atletico Madrid loanee is yet to really get going since his deadline day switch to Stamford Bridge and has just two outings against Aston Villa to his name so far.
We could even see Mason Mount deployed in a deeper role. The England international missed the recent 1-0 defeat to Manchester City with a minor injury but is expected to play some part against Juventus, who are also facing their own injury struggles.
Forwards Alvaro Morata and Paulo Dybala are both out of action for Massimiliano Allegri's side, leaving Everton loanee Moise Kean as the only senior striker available.
Source : 90min