Everton manager Frank Lampard has issued fitness updates on Alex Iwobi and Dominic Calvert-Lewin ahead of their home game against Southampton, revealing that his Nigerian international midfielder could be in contention for a shock return. Last Sunday, Everton announced that Iwobi was set to spend three weeks on the sidelines after being stretchered off in the 3-1 FA Cup defeat at Manchester United but in his pre-match press conference ahead of the Saints’ visit, Lampard said: “It’s a lesser injury than what we thought. We’ll see in the morning whether he’s ready to play tomorrow.”
Lampard, who confirmed James Garner should be back next month also had positive news over Dominic Calvert-Lewin who had started on the bench at Old Trafford due to fatigue but refused to go into details over Andros Townsend who has been out since suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury against previous club Crystal Palace on March 20 last year. He said: “Dominic has had a good week. We played three games in six days going into Manchester United so we had to be careful with that one.
“He’s in a good place, he’s had a nice week training, we’ve been managing him as well as we possibly can so he’s in a good place, he’s fit. Andros is still a few weeks away and because it’s been a difficult injury I’ll come back to you as such when it feels like he’s really getting close because I don’t want to put pressure on him but hopefully a few weeks away.”
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Meanwhile, Lampard played down reports of Dele Alli’s loan at Besiktas being terminated early but spoke of the importance of offloading players who are now deemed as being surplus to requirements. He said: “There hasn’t (been contact with Besiktas) with myself personally. My understanding is that Dele is there for the year and that’s how it will be.”
Lampard added: “There’s always moving parts to that, whether there’s interest or if you think it’s better for us first and foremost if the player wants to move on and sometimes it’s better for them. Ideally if it’s both then they move on if there’s interest.
“At the moment there isn’t much happening on that front but I think it’s important as I always get asked about ‘who are you going to bring in?’ that at the right time, players do move on. That’s balancing the squad and part of the process for a longer period of time to get you improvement.
“I think a lot of managers will say that if you ask them. It’s as much about players that move on as the ones you bring in if you want to move in a certain direction. The answer is, there’s not much happening at the moment but we’re open to it in the right areas for sure.”
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