Chelsea team news: Lampard confirms major injury boost ahead of Ajax clash

Chelsea will be looking to put one foot in the knockout stages of the Champions League with a win over Ajax at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night.

Ahead of the game Frank Lampard has been speaking to the media at his pre-match press conference this afternoon and he’s provided a team news and injury update including the latest on the fitness of N’Golo Kante.

The midfielder has been hampered by a niggling groin injury for around a month after suffering the problem while away with the France squad during the October international break.

Kante has been forced to miss Chelsea’s last six matches in all competitions but took part in full training with the rest of the squad this morning  and Lampard has confirmed the 28-year-old is back in contention to face Ajax tomorrow night.

It’s been a frustrating campaign for Kante as a number of injury issues have restricted him to making just 6 appearances so Lampard is hoping the midfielder can finally put his problems behind him and get a run of games together.

Lampard told Chelseafc.com:

‘Kante is in the squad so he is fit and it looks nicely like the injury and the few niggles he was getting have cleared up and we have been able get some work into him,’

‘It was always stop-start before that. He is in the squad and available.’

Kante’s return to fitness will give Lampard a welcome selection problem in the middle of the park as Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic have formed an impressive partnership in recent weeks while Mason Mount has also cemented himself as a regular in the Chelsea midfield.

Elsewhere, Ross Barkley is still struggling with an ankle injury while Andreas Christensen is also a major doubt due to a thigh injury that’s hampered him for the past four weeks.

Antonio Rudiger has gone to see a specialist as he continues to struggle with a groin injury while Ruben Loftus-Cheek is still working his way back to full fitness from a calf problem so Lampard has plenty of other injury concerns to worry about.

Chelsea head into tomorrow night’s game sitting level with Ajax at the top of Champions League Group H – two points ahead of Valencia – so they can take a huge step towards the knockout stages with a win at Stamford Bridge.