The extent of Abdoulaye Doucoure's hamstring injury will be assessed in the coming days after the 29-year-old became Everton's latest central midfielder to suffer an injury.
Doucoure was forced off the pitch with the issue during the first half of the Blues' defeat at Aston Villa. He had been paired with Alex Iwobi for the second consecutive Premier League game in what was already a makeshift central midfield.
Lampard is hopeful the injury is not serious as he attempts to manage a squad that has already suffered three bad injuries this month. Tom Davies, himself just back from a calf issue that disrupted the end of his pre-season, replaced Doucoure at Villa Park. Lampard's other natural option was Amadou Onana, who was brought on later in the game despite not being fully match fit.
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Lampard's tenure at Goodison Park has been blighted by injuries. As the Blues fought relegation last season he lost several centre backs as well as the influential Fabian Delph and Andros Townsend for key games. This campaign has started in similar fashion with Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Yerry Mina and Ben Godfrey all suffering serious knocks just before, or during, the season opener with Chelsea.
Those injuries compounded the problems of a squad in which several players are out with short term knocks or on the road to recovery. Seamus Coleman and Davies both made the bench against Villa following summer issues while Onana featured despite lacking match fitness due to his transfer from Lille. Lampard has been open about his desire to strengthen in midfield this summer - the signing of Onana is part of that effort, though at just 20 the Blues boss has insisted he needs to be given time to adapt to the Premier League. Efforts to sign Idrissa Gueye from Paris St Germain are also ongoing.
Lampard's central midfield options were limited before the Villa match with Allan picking up a knock on Friday and Andre Gomes still recovering from an injury suffered during the squad's pre-season tour of the United States. Another option, Jean-Philippe Gbamin, was not injured but did not make the squad for the trip to Villa Park. Following the match Lampard said of Doucoure: "Doucoure has a hamstring injury that we will assess. It wasn't a sudden ping, it was more of a tightness - so we will see."
Blues fans will be relieved there were no concerns over the fitness of new signing Conor Coady, who was replaced after receiving treatment on the pitch. Lampard later explained: "Conor had a bang on the head and a bit of cramp, but there's no problem."
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