Lampard plays down latest Abraham injury scare, but Kovačić leaves with bandaged hand

Tammy Abraham was back in the Chelsea starting lineup, back in the goals, and it was good. But he was also back in the injury concern column as well, after appearing to clash knees with Aston Villa center back Tyrone Mings towards the end of Chelsea’s 2-1 win last night.

While Tammy’s substitution was set to happen either way, he had to receive a bit of treatment on the pitch before he was able to gingerly walk off to be replaced by Michy Batshuayi.

That’s certainly not the most ideal scenario, but afterwards Lampard played down any new concerns for the striker whose absence was so keenly felt in Chelsea’s previous two matches.

“He doesn’t seem too bad in there. So I’m presuming no, he’s alright.”

That’s not exactly a clean bill of health, but we’ll have to make do with it for now. With another game coming up in less than 72 hours, there won’t be much time for Abraham to recover from any knocks, major or minor. And we certainly are going to need him at Goodison on Saturday.

“Tammy at the moment is Tammy. He’s near the top of the goalscoring charts in the league and is showing his all-round game. He stretches defences, he starts our press. He’s a personality that is growing in our dressing room every day with his enthusiasm and will to win. Of course when a player is on such a good run, when they come out of the team you can miss them. Today he came back straight in where he left off.”

“He is a hungry boy [for goals]. I haven’t set targets. It is stupid to jump even too much into the future in those fronts. The only thing I would say is every game as they come, can you score, can you be hungry, what can you do for the team? At the moment he is doing it and scoring goals.”

-Frank Lampard; source: Football.London

Meanwhile, Mateo Kovačić reportedly left Stamford Bridge last night with a bandaged right hand after a couple incidents, the second of which involved Chelsea legend and Aston Villa assistant coach John Terry, making his own return to the Bridge for the first time.

When Kovačić went to shake JT’s hand, with the whole world watching, something went awry.

Terry might give a firm handshake, but Kovačić’s reaction would lead us to believe that the problem was only aggravated by Mr. Chelsea, Leader, Legend.

It’s much more likely that Kovačić hurt his hand when he was blatantly pushed into the advertising hoardings by Jack Grealish, in an incident that not only didn’t result in a yellow card, but Grealish wasn’t even called for a foul!

Fortunately, playing midfield doesn’t require the use of a hand, so hopefully Kovačić will not miss any time.