Frank Lampard is in the dark over Chelsea's next two games as the Blues' fixtures against Manchester City and Morecambe have been cast into doubt following Covid-19 outbreaks at the two clubs.
The west London club are due to face Pep Guardiola's side on January 3 before hosting the League Two minnows at Stamford Bridge in the FA Cup a week later.
However, City's clash with Everton, due to be played on Monday night, was postponed four hours before kick off due to an outbreak of the deadly virus in the camp.
Meanwhile, The Shrimps will not play their next two games in the fourth tier following an outbreak at the club.
And Lampard has admitted that he is unsure as to what will happen to his side's games against the two clubs, insisting that football is 'secondary' to the virus.
'We will have to cross that bridge when it comes,' he said after Monday's 1-1 draw with Aston Villa. 'Covid is strange times for all of us for different reasons.
'I think we all sensed that this month might be a tough one with what has been happening pre-Christmas with the surge and the difficulties the public have got and football has been having.
'Secondary will be football, if we don't play those games we will keep working but we will keep everyone safe first and foremost.'
Lampard also told Amazon Prime he was made aware of the City postponement before the game with Villa and will discuss the matter in the coming days.
Sportsmail understands that three of City’s team returned positive tests on Monday, following on from the positive tests of Gabriel Jesus and Kyle Walker revealed on Christmas Day.
City sources suspect the sudden outbreak - now seven confirmed cases since Christmas Day - was caused by last week’s 4-1 Carabao Cup victory at Arsenal.
While Guardiola’s team is believed to have travelled to and from London on the day to minimise risk, they did spend time in a hotel pre-match and fear contraction of the contagious new strain, VUI-202012/01.
Everton have requested 'full disclosure' of all the information City gave to the Premier League so it 'can be clear' why their game at Goodison Park was postponed.
KehindeSeun
538
The new signings are material for building home, I won't say any word if Lampard put them to the right position, but no, look at there, Lampard just put they to any way he wants, not where they best at. so if this is building home, then Lampard is wasting material. No more time, No more wasting, No more chance.
bro don't forget that this people play out of position because of the injury the right person have example pulisic was out Werner play in his position ziyech was out injured havert play in his position apart from this people who else play out of position ? (NOBODY) also look at the injured players that was back to training ones they play few games they got back injured again example pulisic,and ziyech, now odoi that should play was not ready to carry the team yet because is still under development too,he was also injured even after playing few games than mount so think about it what else should the coach do ? put yourself in his shoes. what I know is that the players are just lazy to adapt to new position they put them. look at jota at Liverpool he was play as 9 from winger to number 9, again Torres of man city was also forced to play as number 9 and they both play well who else again firmino , sterling,hazard,debruney,foden,greenwood,fabino,phanadinoh etc all this people play out of position and they play well so why the fuck is Chelsea players different ?
Andy_Mac
222
Useless Chelsea fans have no idea what they're talking about. It's always the manager who is made the scapegoat. Why can't we put our focus on the real problem? The PL chose this ridiculous voting system where clubs can decide whether they want 3 subs or 5 subs. We are permitted only 3 subs and then we're asked to play a fixture just 48 hours after the previous one. How is that fair to a club that is competing in the UCL? And how is that fair to any manager? Pep Guardiola has a lot more squad depth than Lampard has but even he is struggling for consistency at present. Klopp may be at the top of the table but he isn't exactly comfortable now, is he? It's as clear as day that the PL have mugged off all the top PL clubs. Chelsea have a strong playing 11 but not a strong squad. Our backup for Chilwell is Emerson. Our backup for Pulisic or Ziyech is the injury prone Hudson-Odoi and the backup for a secondary winger is nobody else. Kai Havertz was supposed to be that guy but he's currently struggling for form as you'd expect with any new signing from a different league. Timo Werner was asked to play on the wings as a result and that hasn't worked out well either. So, how is that the manager's fault? Let's be serious here. The fans criticise Lampard for not picking the players in their right positions but they fail to see the issues which is causing the problem. If we're gonna criticise Lampard for not getting the best out of Werner and Havertz yet, we should also give him credit for getting the best out of Mount, Chilwell, Reece James, Zouma, Kanté and Pulisic. As a matter of fact, we played better football last season than we're currently doing this season despite having better players. That's simply because we had more squad depth last season than the current one. I would give him till the end of the season and then judge where he's at with these group of players. If it's not good enough, then we can discuss a managerial change.
KehindeSeun
186
fan's are not showing sign of sense everything is sack sack sometimes you need to be patient with coach and let him build is on tactics because house is not build in a day it takes time this season is season of assessment because of the new signing and even for the Yong age group. look at the academy product they have grown up and so there Game too as develop that why we also need to be patient with both the coach and the new players to me even if we didn't finish at top 4 I will still not judge is work until next season,come to think of it the new players are having injury and also the formal players which the coach is still trying to find the right work to protect them from injury Werner was playing in the wing because the wing is injured and available ones is not ready yet