Frank Lampard has provided a positive update on the fitness of Dominic Calvert-Lewin ahead of Everton’s clash with West Ham.
Everton take on West Ham in the Premier League this weekend with the Toffees without a win across their first six Premier League games.
Lampard’s side – who have drawn four consecutive games after a goalless Merseyside Derby with Liverpool last time out – could be boosted by the return of Calvert-Lewin this weekend, with the forward nearing his return from a knee issue sustained in pre-season.
“He’s close. We’ll see come Sunday whether he’s ready to start a game or not, we have to be careful with him as he had a difficult injury,” Lampard told his pre-match press conference.
Everton have had an extra week’s training following the postponement of the Premier League schedule in the wake of the death of Queen Elizabath II and Lampard discussed whether his team have benefited from the additional time on the training ground.
“Possibly. But there’s a lot of footballing reasons for us. If look at the team that started against Liverpool it is very different to the start of last season. The work starts here for us on a lot of fronts so training weeks are always good for us.”
Lampard believes the decision to postpone last weekend’s games was the ‘right thing’ to do following the death of the monarch and opened up on how the postponements will impact Everton’s schedule later in the season.
“It was the right thing to do in the circumstances. It was right that the Premier League took a pause for a weekend to pay its respects,” said the Everton boss.
“We’ve got a busy October and then it’s the World Cup in the middle of the season. So at some point us and other teams will be playing catch up. But I’m used to busy schedules throughout my career so let’s just hope we can find a way through it that feels the fairest for everybody.”
