The Blues are still unable to call upon several first-team stars although the Germany international is available despite hurting his knee at Brighton
Frank Lampard has provided an update on the fitness of several first-team players, with the likes of Thiago Silva, Ben Chilwell and Christian Pulisic still unavailable, although Timo Werner is fit to face Liverpool.
There were concerns that the Germany international may miss the huge clash with Jurgen Klopp’s side after he suffered a knock on the knee in the action of winning a penalty against Brighton on his debut.
Lampard says that Werner is available for the fixture at Stamford Bridge, although fellow new signing Hakim Ziyech is another of those that remains sidelined due to a knee issue.
He told reporters: “Ben Chilwell is not ready for the game, Christian Pulisic is not ready for the game and is quite similar to Ben.
“We hope they are training and progressing over the next week or so. Hakim Ziyech is also not ready for the game. Timo Werner is fit.”
Commenting on Thiago Silva’s absence, with the summer arrival from Paris Saint-Germain set to play a big role for the Blues in the 2020-21 campaign, Lampard added: “Thiago’s been training with us for the last three or four days.
“We’re just working with him on his fitness for the moment, so Liverpool will come too soon for him.
“Thiago is certainly a leader. He brings that with him by nature. He doesn’t speak the language that great, that’s something we’re working on very quickly, but we have a lot of players in the squad who are multi-lingual and help with that.
“By presence, by attitude in training, by the quality of the player he commands respect. I look forward to having him around. He already seems very engaging and intent on helping the team, and that’s all you can ask for as a coach.”
The Blues got their Premier League campaign off to a positive start as they defeated Brighton 3-1 at the Amex Stadium on Monday night.
Goals from Jorginho, Reece James and Kurt Zouma cancelled out Leandro Trossard’s long-range strike for the Seagulls, with Klopp’s Liverpool to follow in game two on Sunday.
Discussing the fixture, Lampard said: “I don’t feel like it’s a game to make a statement, it’s the second game into the season.
“We had one win, hard-fought at Brighton, a game where we were probably in the pre-season zone in terms of our fitness because of the situation, with quarantines and international breaks.
“But now we take on the best team in the country last season, so it’s a nice challenge for us to go head-to-head with them. I think we played pretty well with them head-to-head last year, maybe not always getting the run.
“But it’s a challenge for us to try to get three points, as simple as that, against very good opposition.”
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