Badiashile out of City game with groin injury

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Benoît Badiashile has been ruled out of Chelsea’s game at Manchester City on Sunday.

The French defender has played in the Blues’ past two matches but has picked up a groin injury in training.

Meanwhile, Kalidou Koulibaly has returned to training following his recent injury but is not expected to feature at the Edihad Stadium, where Pep Guardiola’s side will clinch the Premier League title if they win.


Chelsea are also without Reece James, Mason Mount, N’Golo Kante, Ben Chilwell and Marc Cucurella.

Interim boss Frank Lampard explained: “Benoit has injured himself in training. He’ll miss the game and we’re assessing him.

“Koulibaly has been training with us over the last week but is probably not really ready for a game like this, but he is ahead of schedule.”

Chelsea will face the unenviable task of trying to stop City striker Erling Haaland – a player Lampard was desperate to sign during his first spell as Chelsea boss.

“I’ve got huge respect for him. He’s a player I tried to bring to Chelsea the first time I was here. Obviously that couldn’t happen, but his level at that point was very clear as well,” said Lampard.

“I love seeing players with that personality and level of hunger to play and be the best, which he’s proven himself to be.”