September 28, 2026

Chelsea open their Premier League campaign against Manchester United on August 11 and Frank Lampard is hopeful the World Cup winner, Kante will be available for the fixture.

“He is okay,” Lampard told a media conference. “It was a decision that I made because I felt that him being here, with the facilities and the travel that we have been doing, it probably wasn’t the most beneficial for him.

“He went back, has had a few days at Cobham, [he’s] working well and progressing, so hopefully by the time that we get back at the end of the week I will sit down with the doctor to hopefully know that he will be back with us very soon.”

Tammy Abraham and Ross Barkley were on target against Barca in Saitama, but Lampard was quick to rein in expectations after beating the La Liga champions.

“I won’t get carried away with anything about this performance,” he added. “Tammy’s a goalscorer and he’s hungry for goals. Now it’s his time to prove it for Chelsea. To get his goal will put him in good stead.”

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Lampard says he has been impressed with his side’s worth ethic during their pre-season campaign so far and expects them to maintain that intensity in their final warm-up games against Reading, Salzburg and Borussia Monchengladbach.

“In terms of the workload, the players have to get used to it now,” he said. “I’ve set the standard of how I want them to work.

“We’ve had two difficult games in humidity. The tour has served its purpose. We need to be fit and ready for Manchester United and the clock runs down pretty quickly at this stage. Now, we just have to keep working.”