N’Golo Kante could return to the Chelsea side for Wednesday’s Champions League game against Lille.
Having struggled with a knee injury and more recently an ankle problem, Kante was left out for the Blues’ 2-0 win over Brighton because of a hamstring strain.
But Chelsea boss Frank Lampard suggested during his post-match press conference that the Frenchman could be back in action soon.
“I didn’t want to take the risk. I spoke to N’Golo about it,” Lampard explained.
“He’s so important for us, we know that. But he’s had a difficult pre-season.
“It’s been difficult for us but mainly for him to get going because of the break-up of his pre-season with his injury carried over from last year.
“So it wasn’t right to risk him today. He could have a chance for Lille.”
Chelsea’s win was their first at home in the league under Lampard, who was full of praise for Jorginho and Willian.
Jorginho’s penalty opened the scoring and Willian’s goal sealed the victory.
Lampard said: “The kids – everyone’s drawn to that conversation – but they’re playing because they deserve to. So I don’t really consider age.
“But they will also always need that experienced player around them.
“You can talk about Jorginho with the coolness to score the penalty and Willian who not only created chances for himself and got his goal but his work ethic was fantastic.
“Those are the standards. Some of the experienced players can set those standards and the youngsters must follow.”