Chelsea striker Sam Kerr has sustained a foot injury and won’t play for Australia in their doubleheader against Canada at the start of next month, her club has confirmed.

The 30-year-old is believed to have been carrying the issue for a while, but it was decided that she should rest and recover, rather than travel to join up with the Matildas for two friendly matches.

Kerr scored the Blues’ third goal in the 5-2 win over Leicester City on Sunday but she was substituted with 10 minutes to go.

After the match, manager Emma Hayes said that the forward was playing at “80%”, suggesting that she was managing some sort of injury.

Kerr has had her fair share of injury problems recently

The Australian international had a difficult start to the World Cup in the summer, missing the first three games against the Republic of Ireland, Nigeria and Canada due to a calf problem.

Kerr returned to the matchday squad for the round of 16 tie versus Denmark, having also started on the bench in the quarter-final tie against France. She did make her mark after starting her first match of the tournament against England in the semi-final.

Her spectacular long-range shot made it 1-1 against the Lionesses but the goal proved to be in vain as their opponents ran out 3-1 winners.

Her form for Chelsea has been excellent

Despite her fitness problems, Kerr has had a very good start to the campaign for the Blues. Last week. she scored a hat-trick against Paris FC in the Champions League.

After her goal against Leicester at the weekend, the forward has now hit the back of the net 7 times in only 8 appearances. Chelsea supporters will be keeping their fingers crossed that one of their key players is not sidelined for too long.

Emma Hayes’ side take on Arsenal next up at the Emirates on December 10th. A record crowd for a WSL game is expected.