Chelsea expect Kante injury to rule him out of Crystal Palace trip

Chelsea are waiting to assess the severity of a hamstring injury sustained by N’Golo Kante in France’s World Cup qualifying win in Bulgaria on Saturday but expect to be without the midfielder and Álvaro Morata for Saturday’s trip to Crystal Palace.Kante hobbled off in the 34th minute of the game in Sofia, which France won 1-0, and was withdrawn from Didier Deschamps’ squad for last night’s final group game against Belarus. The midfielder, who has been nominated in France Football’s 30 contenders to win this year’s Ballon d’Or, hurt the hamstring in his left leg but has yet to return to Cobham, where he will assessed by Chelsea’s medical staff. Kante would not expect to feature on Saturday and, with Tiemoue Bakayoko and Cesc Fàbregas fit, his absence could be tempered further by Danny Drinkwater’s return from a calf complaint which has prevented him making his debut for the champions following his £35m move from Leicester City. Chelsea have been encouraged by their assessments of the hamstring discomfort Morata experienced in the first half of the home defeat by Manchester City before the international window. The Spanish football federation initially suggested he would be absent for up to six weeks after its scans, conducted in Madrid, revealed a grade two hamstring injury.Yet Chelsea’s medics have carried out tests and do not believe the injury is as serious as first feared. Although Morata is expected to sit out the game at bottom-placed Palace, there are hopes he could feature at home to Roma in their Champions League group game next week. Chelsea top Group C after impressive victories over Qarabag and, most signficantly, Atletico Madrid where Morata scored their first goal. Antonio Conte is expected to select Michy Batshuayi – who scored the winner as a substitute at the Wanda Metropolitano – in Morata’s place at Selhurst Park, where Ruben Loftus-Cheek will be ineligible for the hosts. The England under-21 midfielder is on a season-long loan at Palace.Arsenal defender Mustafi suffers ‘muscle tear’Arsenal’s Shkodran Mustafi is expected to be sidelined for some time after he was forced to limp out of Germany’s 5-1 World Cup qualifying win over Azerbaijan on Sunday. The 24-year-old pulled up clutching his right thigh in the 36th minute of the match just before Azerbaijan scored their goal through Ramil Sheydaev and the coach, Joachim Low, later confirmed he sustained a suspected muscle injury.“With Mustafi it seems that it is some muscle tear or some muscle fibre tear,” Low said. “In any case it could force him to a longer break.” Any enforced absence would be a potential headache for Arsene Wenger before Saturday’s trip to Watford, with Laurent Koscielny having pulled out of France’s squad last week with an achilles injury and Calum Chambers yet to feature this season due to a hip problem.