Chelsea to be without four key players in premier league season opener

By Emmanuel Oladele - Nigfooty.com can report that four Chelsea key players will miss the premier league season opener against Brighton on Monday, they are; Hakim Ziyech, Ben Chilwell, Thiago Silva and Billy Gilmour.

According to team manager Frank Lampard, "Hakim Ziyech took an injury to his knee against Brighton in the friendly game, so he won't be fit for Brighton.

We hope it's a couple of weeks, but we'll have to see on that one a little bit."

"Ben Chilwell is working towards fitness, he won't be fit for Brighton but has developed and improved this week and his heading in the right direction, so that's good news for us."

"Thiago Silva is now in London but is not training with us until the weekend, so I doubt very much he'll be in contention for Brighton game."

"Billy Gilmour is a longer-term injury he'll be out for a couple of months with the operation he had," Lampard concluded.

But the good news to all Chelsea fans is that Timo Werner and Kai Havertz will be available for Monday's game.