Chelsea boss Frank Lampard has offered updates on a string of first-team players as injuries are starting to stack up at Stamford Bridge.
The Blues host Everton on Sunday as they look to solidify fourth spot in the Premier League and remain at the front of the race for Champions League qualification.
Buoyed by their win over Liverpool in the FA Cup in midweek, Lampard will hope to build momentum off that, but as noted below, he is having to contend with injury problems at the worst possible time.
As noted by the club’s official site, the Chelsea boss confirmed that Mateo Kovacic will miss the Everton game after suffering an Achilles injury against Liverpool which forced him to limp off.
Given his influence and consistent presence in the starting XI this season, it will come as a relief to Chelsea fans that Lampard added that he doesn’t expect the Croatian international to be sidelined for long after this weekend.
Meanwhile, he added that there is a ‘question mark’ hanging over Willian for Sunday as the Brazilian ace could also miss the visit of Carlo Ancelotti’s side, while Callum Hudson-Odoi’s setback this week was confirmed as he’ll now face an extended spell out.
However, there was some good news mixed in all the injury blows as Lampard provided an update on Christian Pulisic, with the 21-year-old having been out since the start of the year.
“We just had an in-house game here which Ruben and Christian Pulisic took part in,” he said, as per the report above.
“It’s great to see Christian get some minutes. He’s short of match fitness but it’s the first time the injury has felt at a level to get him on a big pitch in a relatively competitive match. That’s a big step forward, hopefully.”
Given he has bagged six goals and six assists in 23 games this season, Chelsea could surely do with his impact in the final third in the coming weeks to give them a timely boost.