Chelsea boss, Maurizio Sarri has taken the blame for N’Golo Kante’s hamstring injury during the Blues 3-0 win over Watford.
The injury has ruled out the French midfielder for the next two games.
Kante limped off inside 10 minutes of the game.
The Italian manager confirmed the injury will keep Kante out for Chelsea’s games against Eintracht Frankfurt on Thursday in the Europa League and Leicester City on Sunday.
Sarri said he made a mistake starting the World Cup winner just three days after their 1-1 draw in the first-leg in Frankfurt.
“He has a problem with his hamstring, but I think I made a mistake, he should have rested today,” he told Sky Sports.
“Sometimes it’s difficult to put someone on the bench so important like Eden Hazard or Kante – it’s a risk.
“We will wait for the morning, it’s very difficult to recover for the next two matches. We have to recover him for the final.”
Sarri also put his side’s poor performance down to tiredness following their short turnaround in the Europa League.
“I think in the first half we were tired, mentally. We were in trouble. Then they lowered their intensity.
“We were lucky to score after two minutes – we improved mentally after first goal.
“We played very well for 35 minutes then. It’s not easy to play after 60 hours. After Europa League away games we’ve only won one match.
“When you are not brilliant physically you have to move the ball, the ball isn’t tired, the man is tried. In the second half we did it better as something changed in our minds,” he said.
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