Thomas Tuchel has made it clear he will not select N’Golo Kante for Wednesday’s Carabao Cup quarter-final at Brentford.
The Blues boss was unhappy at having to field Kante in the recent 0-0 draw at Wolves.
Chelsea, depleted by Covid-19 cases and injuries, had to play at Molineux after their request for the match to be postponed was rejected by the Premier League.
Kante had not played for a month because of injury and Tuchel wanted to ease him back in.
But Chelsea’s shortage of players meant the Frenchman ended up playing the full 90 minutes.
And Tuchel has no intention of involving him against the Bees.
Kante will instead be given time to recover ahead of this weekend’s league game against Aston Villa.
Speaking at his pre-match press conference, Tuchel said: “What we did with N’Golo Kante – 90 minutes – was close to being irresponsible.
“Will he be involved in the squad now against Brentford? No. Simply no.
“I will not do it and we will now give him time to recover.”
Chelsea are also likely to be without Andreas Christsensen and Trevoh Chalobah as they are both nursing injuries. A number of fringe players are expected to be involved.