Ben Guest
Frank Lampard has provided some positive news ahead of Chelsea’s mouthwatering game against Liverpool at the weekend.
Lampard has had a number of injuries to contend with in his fledgeling career as Chelsea boss, with Antonio Rudiger, N’Golo Kante, Callum Hudson-Odoi all having had significant injuries in the opening month of the season.
Mason Mount has been one of the Blues’ standout players of the campaign so far, scoring three goals in his first five Premier League outings. The youngster was hacked down in midweek by former Arsenal midfielder Francis Coquelin, forcing the young England international to go off just 15 minutes into the Champions League defeat to Valencia.
However, while the challenge looked pretty nasty, Lampard has confirmed that Mount has ‘a chance’ of featuring against the league leaders on Sunday, with reports emerging on Thursday that the 20-year-old suffered no ligament damage.
“He has got a chance,” Lampard said at his pre-match press conference. “We saw the image of the tackle made it look bad. We are trying to get him moving today, I will have to make the call before the game.
“His attitude is good so he will give everything to play. There was a lot of swelling, didn’t look the best, if there is proper damage you can’t do much. We won’t take any risks, there is a bigger picture, we will do our best.”
There was also good news regarding the fitness of N’Golo Kante, who returned to training this week following a lengthy injury problem that began towards the end of last season, though Lampard said his return to action will have to be managed.
“It is a boost, we know the importance of him,” Lampard added. “The question is how fit he is. He has played a couple of games, but he missed pre-season. [To play in the UEFA Super Cup in ] Istanbul was miraculous. Now we have to manage him.
“I am delighted to work with him and if he can bring a positive for us then I will take it into consideration.”
Read: Lampard says Super Cup proves Chelsea can compete with the Premier League’s best
See Also: Barkley’s penalty debacle and five other Champion League talking points