Chelsea vs Newcastle: Lampard gives injury update ahead of EPL clash

Chelsea manager, Frank Lampard, has given injury updates ahead of Saturday's Premier League clash against Newcastle.

The Blues go into the home fixture in fifth place, having gathered 14 points from their opening eight matches.

Lampard will be without N'Golo Kante, Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger for the Magpies' visit.

"N'Golo [Kante's] not fit. He had a small groin issue in the warm-up to the first international game for France. We didn't get him back until after the second game and he's not fit for Saturday.

"[Mateo] Kovacic had a knock on his thigh but has trained the last couple of days so he's in contention.

"Andreas Christensen has got a hamstring injury which will see him out for the next two weeks.

"[Antonio] Rudiger is training outside with the physios which is a progression for him. He a tough injury with some stop-start (features), which has been unfortunate for everybody.

"But he's outside, it's positive - a bit of work to be done for him for match fitness but it's really positive for us that he's outside," he told reporters on Friday.