Chelsea interim boss Frank Lampard has confirmed that Kalidou Koulibaly will continue to be unavailable for selection ahead of Tuesday's trip to Arsenal, and could in fact miss the remainder of the season.
The defender has been out injured since picking up a hamstring problem in the Champions League quarter-final first-leg defeat to Real Madrid. Koulibaly has missed the last three games, with the Blues conceding six goals and losing three.
There was little hope that the Senegal international could return for the trip to the Emirates Stadium, but Lampard has confirmed he will remain out for the foreseeable future. "Yeah, [he's] out for a while still," Lampard said. "I think it will be a tight call for the season, he's working away.
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"[I've] been impressed with him actually as a professional, he's doing his job very well. Unfortunately the injury is a bit of a tough one."
Lampard also provided an update on fellow defender Marc Cucurella. The left-back missed the 2-0 home defeat to Brentford last week after suffering an injury in training and is expected to miss another "two weeks or so".
Another player who missed Brentford was Kai Havertz, who was struggling with a knock to his knee. After confirming that the forward would return to training, Lampard confirmed he is in contention to feature in north London, bolstering his options in attack. He said: "Kai Havertz is in contention for the game, he's trained."
That means Chelsea will be without five players for their trip to title chasing Arsenal. Both Mason Mount and Reece James have been confirmed to be sidelined for the remaining six games of the season. "Reece James is unavailable, probably for the season," Lampard said ahead of facing Brentford.
"Reece had a hamstring he picked up in the Madrid game, he got through the game but we scanned it the following day."
On Mount: "Mason Mount is the same [probably out for the season]. Potential for the last game of the season but probably not. That's obviously disappointing for us."
Lampard explained the issue that has kept him out of action since mid-February: "Mason has been carrying this pelvic injury for quite a while, it pre-dates myself.
"We've been trying and the medical staff have been trying but we've got to the stage now where he'll have a minor surgery. Probably a four-week recovery and we know where that gets us to."
Elsewhere Armando Broja is the final absentee for Chelsea. He has spoken about his recovery to the club recently, saying: "I am recovering much faster than expected. Being able to get back into the gym and work on strength training has been a huge boost for me, as I was forced to stay in bed and spend more time in physiotherapy during the first few weeks after surgery. It was the most difficult period."
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