Kante to miss end of Chelsea season after going off with hamstring injury against Watford

CHELSEA midfielder N’Golo Kante will miss the end of Chelsea's season after suffering a hamstring injury, says Maurizio Sarri.

The Frenchman went down off the ball after eight minutes and was replaced by Ruben Loftus-Cheek.

And Sarri says the focus is now on getting him fit for the Europa League final.

The Italian commented: “The problem is with his hamstring, but I think I made a mistake. Probably today he had to rest.

“Sometimes its difficult to put him on the bench, a player so important like Hazard and Kante but you have to do it.

“It is very difficult to recover him for the next two matches, we want to play the final so he is lucky, we have to recover him for the final.”

Kante has been pivotal to Maurizio Sarri’s squad this since playing 51 games and scoring five goals.

The World Cup winner has been deployed further afield this season by his Italian manager to accommodate passmaster Jorginho to play in the deep lying position in the Blues' three-man midfield.

Kante has missed just one league game this season, when he was rested in his side's 2-1 win against Cardiff in March.

Kante's injury comes after Antonio Rudiger was ruled out for the rest of the season having surgery on his knee for an injury suffered against Manchester United.

Chelsea revealed the surgery had been successful in a statement - but gave no indication on when the centre-back would return to action.

It read: "Toni Rudiger successfully underwent surgery on his left knee meniscus today.

"He will miss the rest of this campaign and will rehab over the summer to be back early next season."