The Chelsea boss reported the latest on Kante at a press conference in Baku before training in the Olympic Stadium. He is not yet sure if the French midfielder will be able to start against Arsenal but he is hopeful the problem can resolve itself in time for kick-off.

‘I don’t know,’ responded Sarri when asked if Kante would be fit.

‘He had a little problem on Saturday, a very little problem with his knee. It’s not really a very serious injury.

‘The problem is the timing because we had only four days to try to recover him. We are trying. At the moment we don’t know. We will try until the last moment. We will try tomorrow, but at the moment we don’t know.

‘He is 50/50 at the moment,’ added Sarri.

‘Yesterday 60/40 for the no, today 50/50. He was a little bit better this morning.

‘But we are in trouble in midfield. At the moment we have only three midfielders for three positions. N’Golo is really important for us. He is the only defensive midfielder we have. Without N’Golo it’s a problem for us.’

Sarri was also asked if he would select Olivier Giroud, the topscorer in the competition, up front.

'I need to consider him, first of all. He has played very well in the Europa League and scored a lot of goals. In this competition Olivier was very important for us.

'I have to decide tomorrow, but I have to consider him I think.'

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