Some potentially good news has emerged for Steve Bruce ahead of Saturday’s trip to Stamford Bridge, with Chelsea star N’Golo Kante now at risk of missing out.
Kante has been unable to play in any of France’s EURO 2020 qualifiers over the past week after picking up a ‘muscle injury’ in the warm-up prior to France’s clash with Iceland last week.
The 28-year-old may not be the only first-team player at Chelsea who misses out either, with Matteo Kovacic, Antonio Rudiger, Andreas Christensen and Emerson also rated ’50-50′ for the game.
It’s been suggested that Kante’s withdrawal was just precautionary, however the Chelsea star also missed France’s 1-1 draw with Turkey last night, raising doubts over his fitness ahead of our trip to the capital this weekend.
He still has an outside chance of making the game, but his absence would be a huge boost for Newcastle – and Chelsea may be reluctant to risk him given injuries have seen him feature in just 4 of their 8 league games so far this season.
Frank Lampard’s young side have been exciting to watch in attack this season, but with just 1 clean sheet in 12 games (in all competitions) this season, Kante’s presence would be missed in front of what has been a leaky Chelsea defence.
