Chelsea forward Eden Hazard will miss Thursday’s Europa League Group L home game with Belarusian champions BATE Borisov because of a back injury.
He is expected to return for Sunday’s Premier League game at Burnley.
“Hazard is out for sure,” said manager Maurizio Sarri. “He has a back problem. We are trying to solve the problem for Sunday.”
The Belgian is the club’s top scorer this season, with eight goals and three assists in 11 appearances.
Hazard was not in the squad for Chelsea’s Europa League opener against Greek side PAOK Salonika on 20 September but came on as a second-half substitute in the 1-0 win over Hungarian champions MOL Vidi on 4 October.
Chelsea are top of Group L with two wins, while BATE are third with one victory.
Midfielder Jorginho – who has started all of Chelsea’s Premier League games this season – will be rested as Sarri is keen to rotate his squad before the match against Burnley.
Defender Marcos Alonso, who signed a new contract this week, will be available and Andreas Christensen and Ruben Loftus-Cheek could be handed starts.
“This match is not a big problem, because we have to play after five days from the last match,” said Sarri.
“The problem will be on Sunday, because on Sunday we will play after 65 hours. So we need to change some of them.
“For example, Jorginho we need to rest now, because he played 90 minutes the two matches with the international team [Italy], and then he played for 100 minutes in the last match [against Manchester United, which had 10 minutes of injury time]. It’s time to rest for him.”
