Chelsea boss Frank Lampard has confirmed that Emerson could be sidelined for a considerable period of time after suffering a recurrence of the thigh problem picked up on international duty. The Italy international made his injury comeback during the recent league encounter against Liverpool but he was able to last for just 15 minutes before he was substituted with a fresh concern.
Besides Emerson, Andreas Christensen also picked up a knee injury during the 2-1 defeat to Liverpool but it appears that the Dane could return in a short space of time. Speaking in a press conference, Lampard revealed that Christensen has only suffered a knock and he should return to action for the forthcoming fixtures.
The Blues tactician added that won’t be the case with Emerson, who is set to miss up to a month’s action due to a fresh thigh injury, he told: “Andreas is not too severe. Hopefully he won’t be out for too long but I can’t give a time frame. Emerson now won’t be back until the other side of the (mid-October) international break. It will be a few weeks because it is the recurrence of an injury, so we have to be a bit careful with it.”
Chelsea are scheduled to face League Two Grimsby Town during the midweek League Cup third round tie. Lampard is bound to make numerous changes with the view to the weekend league game and he has particularly raved about the quality of Reece James, who is set to make his debut on Wednesday night, he continued: “He can play in different positions. His favourite is position is right-back or right wing-back and he played there a lot in our successful youth teams. He can also play in holding midfield as he showed at Wigan.”
Despite the promise with the younger players, Chelsea have made an average beginning to the Premier League season and they are currently 11th on the table with just eight points on the board. They are also facing a testing challenge in the Champions League where they have already suffered a 1-0 home defeat to Valencia during the opening group stage game.