Abraham avoids worst with injury; Lampard confirms Kepa won’t start game he’d never start anyway

Couple bits of mostly good news from Frank Lampard’s press conference this morning: Tammy Abraham did not break anything when he slammed his foot/ankle into the advertising hoardings in Tuesday’s 2-2 draw against Arsenal, but it’s unclear how long he will be out.

He won’t play tomorrow in a game he wouldn’t start anyway, but his availability remains in question for next weekend’s big away test at Leicester City as well.

“The good news is he hasn’t fractured anything, we were worried about a hairline fracture.

“The other news is we still have to see how he develops. It’s not a clear-cut one. He’s not fit for the weekend, but whether he’ll be fit for Leicester after that I’m still not sure. So I haven’t got great news, or the news for you. It’s still not clear at the moment.”

And speaking of players who aren’t going to play tomorrow (and weren’t ever going to play anyway), Lampard also confirmed that Willy Caballero will start instead of Kepa Arrizabalaga. Of course, Caballero was always likely to start any early round (League or) FA Cup match — precisely the definition of his role as backup — but this is apparently worthy of asking in a press conference because everybody’s focusing on Kepa.

“Yes, Willy will start tomorrow. I am very happy for Willy to be at the club and I have found him as nothing but professional and he is very talented in training day-in day-out and when he gets his opportunity to play, so yes.”

-Frank Lampard; source: Football.London

It’ll be much more interesting to see who starts at center forward, and whether Olivier Giroud (still here!) makes at least the bench for once.