Chelsea have been dealt a massive blow ahead of the UEFA Europa League final with star midfielder N’Golo Kante set to miss with injury.

The Frenchman picked up a knee injury while making a challenge at training on Saturday which will likely rule him out of the club’s historic fixture against Arsenal.

Kante only recently returned from a hamstring injury which ruled him out of the final two games of the Premier League season against Watford and Leicester.

It adds to an already lengthy injury list for the Blues, who will travel to Baku without Antonio Rüdiger due to meniscus damage, as well as Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ruben Loftus-Cheek who both suffered ruptured achillies.

Chelsea certainly have their backs against the wall, however that has not stopped them before in a European final.

Meanwhile, Unai Emery has named a mostly full-strength squad for the final, in a game which Arsenal must win to qualify for the UEFA Champions League.

Armenian star Henrikh Mkhitaryan is the only notable absentee after he decided it was too unsafe to travel to Azerbaijan due to the political tension with his native country.

The match is this Wednesday the 29th of May (CET), with the winner going into pot 1 for next season’s Champions League draw.

Damon Palmar
damon@footballnationradio.com