Chelsea Injury Update: Mikel Back; Lampard Expected For Saturday

Some good news on the injury front at long last. The somewhat-maligned* John Obi Mikel has recovered from the hamstring injury he suffered during the 1-1 draw at Tottenham Hotspur and is back in training ahead of the Everton clash, and Frank Lampard is expected to join him before Saturday, meaning that we'll be up to almost a full complement in the centre of the pitch. Both players have their flaws, of course, but having them available is a lot better than not, as we saw against Manchester United.

*Unfairly.

That will still leave Chelsea down four players, but with the Africa Cup of Nations final set of Sunday, we'll get Salomon Kalou and Didier Drogba back next week and hopefully toting some nice shiny medals to add to their collections. There's also, apparently, some hope that both Ramires and John Terry will return for the FA Cup match against Birmingham (although reports from yesterday seemed to indicated that Terry could miss the rest of the month). Ramires is the player the Blues are missing most at the moment, and getting him back after just one more match would be huge. Here's hoping!