Frank Lampard has revealed Dominic Calvert-Lewin is close to fitness but insists the striker doesn’t need guidance from himself over how to manage his return. The Everton number nine hasn’t played yet this season after suffering what Lampard described as a “freak injury” just days before their opening fixture against Chelsea but is now back in training and could be in contention to face West Ham United this weekend.
Lampard, who also confirmed that Abdoulaye Doucoure is back fit, was asked how far off Calvert-Lewin was and said: “Close and we’ll see come Sunday whether he’s ready to start a game or not. We have to be careful with him because he had a difficult injury and we’ll see for the weekend.”
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Calvert-Lewin netted 21 goals in all competitions for Everton in 2020/21 but endured a stop-start campaign last term but the Blues boss maintained the player didn’t need any special treatment from himself in terms of making sure his fitness troubles are now behind him. He said: “He’s a top level striker. I think he’s felt all that, he had a lot of that last season so he knows he’s got support and advice from me on that and I try not to give him that pressure on top of that, I just try and talk football with him and I know what he can give us because he gave it to us at the back end of last season. He’s experienced enough to deal with it.
“All we want is Dominic fit and firing. It’s difficult with injuries because it can very easily happen where you get over one and another one comes, it can be a small phase in your career at times and not for the want of trying to find a solution.
“He’s had that period and I just hope to see him having regular football and he’s certainly not going to get any undue pressure from either myself or the staff, we just work with him and just want to see him in the best condition and then he can help us.”
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