Chelsea are waiting to assess the severity of a hamstring injury sustained by N’Golo Kanté in France’s World Cup qualifying win in Bulgaria on Saturday but expect to be without the midfielder and Álvaro Morata for the trip to Crystal Palace on Saturday.

Kanté hobbled off in the 34th minute of the game in Sofia, which France won 1-0, and was withdrawn from Didier Deschamps’s squad for Tuesday’s final group game against Belarus. The midfielder, who has been nominated in France Football’s 30 contenders to win this year’s Ballon d’Or, hurt the hamstring in his left leg but has yet to return to Cobham, where he will assessed by Chelsea’s medical staff.

Kanté would not expect to feature on Saturday and, with Tiémoué Bakayoko and Cesc Fàbregas fit, his absence could be tempered further by Danny Drinkwater’s return from a calf complaint which has prevented him making his debut for the champions following his £35m move from Leicester City.

Chelsea have been encouraged by their assessments of the hamstring discomfort Morata experienced in the first half of the home defeat by Manchester City before the international window. The Spanish football federation initially suggested he would be absent for up to six weeks after its scans, conducted in Madrid, revealed a grade-two hamstring injury.

Yet Chelsea’s medics have carried out tests and do not believe the injury is as serious as first feared. Although Morata is expected to sit out the game at the bottom-placed Palace, there are hopes he could feature at home against Roma in their Champions League group game next week.

Chelsea top Group C after impressive victories against Qarabag and, most signficantly, Atlético Madrid where Morata scored their first goal. Antonio Conte is expected to select Michy Batshuayi – who scored the winner as a substitute at the Wanda Metropolitano – in Morata’s place at Selhurst Park, where Ruben Loftus-Cheek will be ineligible for the hosts. The England under-21 midfielder is on a season-long loan at Palace.