Frank Lampard has admitted he is hopeful the injuries to Willian and Mateo Kovacic are not drastic following Chelsea’s win over Liverpool.
The Blues eased past the Reds 2-0 on Tuesday night as they booked their place in the quarter-final of the FA Cup; however it appears it could have come at a cost.
Both Willian and Kovacic went down either side of the half-time whistle clutching at the lower leg region and Lampard has confirmed that the Chelsea duo have sustained similar injuries.
“Both have got Achilles issues,” the Blues boss told the club’s official website after the victory.
“Willian hopefully isn’t too bad, that’s what he’s reporting. We’ll see tomorrow. Kovacic feels slightly worse, but hopefully not too drastic. We’ll see.
“We’ll have to have a bit of a count on Thursday, as they’re off tomorrow.
“We’ll see where we’re at in terms of midfield players. Sometimes you can moan about injuries, and I have, but the reality is you have to keep fighting and go with it, and when the players show the spirit they have tonight you hope it gives them strength as a group to keep moving forward.”
Indeed, with games against the likes of Everton, Aston Villa and Bayern Munich before the end of March (WhoScored), Chelsea will surely want to be in a position whereby both men are up and running as normal.
Willian got the opening goal of the night against Liverpool on Tuesday, adding to the tally of four goals and four assists he has in the Premier League this season as well.
Kovacic also appears to have been enjoying his second year in west London as Lampard’s arrival seems to have given him a fresh lease of life at Stamford Bridge – having achieved an average match rating of 6.98 in top-flight competition so far (per WhoScored).
If Chelsea want to keep their place in the top-four and have any chance of trying to overcome the 3-0 deficit they face in their Champions League tie with Bayern Munich, then Lampard will likely need the pair available to him.
