Chelsea suffered their first loss since the resumption of the 2019-20 season, losing 3-2 to West Ham United on Thursday.
The Blues threw away a 1-0 lead as a result of which they still remain in the fourth spot on the league table and next up, they are back at Stamford Bridge as they take on Watford.
Up until now, the manager had more or less a fully fit squad but Lampard has revealed that Fiyako Tomori and most importantly Mateo Kovacic are ruled out from the weekend’s clash.
The 22-year-old defender is recovering from a muscular injury and will not be fit in time while Kovacic has picked up an Achilles injury.
The manager said in his press conference: ‘Fikayo is still not fit,
‘He’s hopefully going to be training with us somewhere through next week. He’s doing a lot of work but in terms of the last bit to get him on the training pitch, it’s been tough.
‘Kovacic is going to be out of this game. He hurt his Achilles during the West Ham game and will miss this one, possibly the next one after that but hopefully, it won’t be too long after that.’
The absence of Mateo Kovacic will surely be a bit of a setback for the Chelsea manager since he has been a constant figure in the Blues midfield this season.
But with Ruben Loftus Cheek returning from injury, Lampard will not be too worried about the fresh injury concern.
Young Billy Gilmour has also done a good enough job in midfield and there’s a chance the former Rangers man will get to start against Watford.
As far as the injury to Tomori is concerned, the Chelsea boss has found a constant partnership in the form of Rudiger and Christensen so the centre-back will not be missed too much on Saturday.
