Chelsea manager Frank Lampard has revealed that attackers Hakim Ziyech and Callum Hudson-Odoi could both return to training this week, but isn’t sure whether either will be available for the next game.
The Blues have been rocked with back-to-back defeats in the Premier League to derail a decent start, with the latest loss coming away to Wolverhampton Wanderers on Tuesday night.
Despite Olivier Giroud’s opening goal, Chelsea were beaten 2-1 at Molineux courtesy of goals from Daniel Podence and Pedro Neto.
There was a lack of creativity at times in the final third and a lot seemed to rest on the shoulders of Christian Pulisic for some magic, while defensively they were naive against the Wolves counter-attack.
Lampard has given some positive news about wide players Ziyech and Hudson-Odoi returning to training.
But the Chelsea boss isn’t ready to stick his neck out on the line by saying they will be ready to play next Monday in the London derby against West Ham.
”Hakim and Callum will hopefully be training by the end of the week. Whether they are fit or not for West Ham, I’m not sure,” Lampard said, as quoted by Football.London.
Ziyech has had a stop-start beginning to his Chelsea career so far, which is a concern moving forward about his injury record.
But the 27-year-old right-winger has been the main creative force whenever he’s featured for the Blues this season, scoring two goals and suppling three assists in just 12 games.
His presence has been massively missed in the past couple of games and the left-footer is the type of player that can help breakthrough against a resilient defence.
Meanwhile, 20-year-old left-winger Hudson-Odoi is a speed machine that loves to dribble at defenders one-on-one and there has been a real lack of width without him as an option.
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