Frank Lampard admits Chelsea midfielder N'Golo Kante could have to change his style of play to avoid injury.
The Frenchman is out of Tuesday's trip to Crystal Palace and could also miss the clash with Sheffield United over the weekend after suffering his fourth injury of the season against Watford.
And with Kante closing in on 30 years of age, Lampard thinks the midfielder might have to temper his intensity heading into the future.
"Take the small injury he has now out of it slightly, because all players can get that in this period because we're asking a lot of them in games," Lampard said in a press conference on Zoom.
"The story of the season being he had a pretty bad injury in the Europa League final and when we came back for pre-season, I wasn't sure what the situation was and it turned out he wasn't near fit with that injury.
"And now we end up with a slight domino effect that took us through the season which means he played pretty much fifty per cent of the games as we went into lockdown. I like to think that we're through that patch and that this injury now is pretty unrelated.
"One of the things that looks different for me is that when you do get a few injuries, when you are in your mid-twenties you see things differently and you have to maintain yourself slightly differently and N'Golo certainly buys into that and I think that will help too."