Kante a doubt for Palace game but Ziyech won’t need surgery

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N’Golo Kante appears to be a doubt for Chelsea’s Premier League opener against Crystal Palace.

Blues boss Thomas Tuchel revealed on Friday afternoon that there were “a few issues” with Kante’s fitness ahead of the game.

Hakim Ziyech is unavailable after suffering a shoulder injury during the Uefa Super Cup win against Villarreal.


But the injury does not seem as serious as was first feared – Ziyech does not require surgery and could be ready to return in two weeks.

“Hakim will miss the game because of his injury,” Tuchel said.

“The decision is made that it will be treated conservatively. The situation is that we don’t need surgery, which is very very good news.

“We hope that it continues like this and that he can be back on the pitch within the next two weeks. We hope this – we cannot promise, but this is what we hope for at the moment.

“We have some issues with N’Golo Kante from the (Super Cup) final we need to sort out.”

Tuchel added that a final decision on his team selection will not be made until the morning of the game.

“The decisions are not made yet on who starts. We will take our time and do the latest decisions tomorrow morning,” he said.