Everton injury news: Lampard provides update on six players and gives Calvert-Lewin return date

Starting on a clean slate, Everton begins their Premier League campaign against Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea. After the draining relegation fight that saw Everton just about survive the battle, Lampard’s side are gearing up to get off to a positive start to the campaign. The biggest blow will be that Everton will be without Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

Calvert-Lewin had a disastrous campaign last season, plagued by injuries, missing games and not being able to contribute in a manner he would have liked. He did finish the season on a strong note, scoring three goals, one of which being the all important goal that secured Everton’s safety.

The Englishman was hoping to start this season on a strong note and be the talisman, the prime goal scorer in Richarlison’s absence. He looked sharp and fit during pre-season and even scored a goal against Dynamo Kyiv. However, the striker has now suffered an injury ahead of the start of the Premier League season.

The 25 year old suffered a knee injury in training and Lampard has spoken in the press conference about the return date. The club have made strong additions in the form of James Tarkowski, Ruben Vinagre, and Dwight McNeil, addressing some key issues in the squad. However, there are still some injury concerns that continue to hurt Everton.

Everton striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin out for six weeks

"Losing a player like Calvert-Lewin going into the first game of the season is going to affect you. We are probably looking at around six weeks of injury. It has been assessed over a couple of days and we’ll have to work around it. Our players will have to step up and hopefully six weeks pass relatively quickly and we get Dominic backNo [not related to injuries last season]. Dominic was looking great, really fit, really strong. I took him out of a preseason game as a precaution. (via the club’s official Youtube Channel)"

Apart from Calvert-Lewin, there have been worries over the availability and fitness of players like Andre Gomes, Tom Davies, Allan, Seamus Coleman, Yerry Mina and Asmir Begovic. Some of them have hardly taken part in any pre-season game and have not been training. Lampard addressed the condition of every player in the press conference.

"Andre – a week or two away. Yerry – Fit. Asmir- Fit. We hope just about fit, he’s worked very hard, and he’s ahead of schedule. Seamus – Fit. He’s going to play for the U-21s tomorrow night to get some minutes, he’s working very hard to get up to speed. Allan – Fit. Trying to get some match minutes. He’s not played so many minutes, he’s part of the squad but again, we need to get him match fit."

Everton will be without Calvert-Lewin for six weeks and with Salomon Rondon also suspended for the first game, Lampard may tilt towards using Dele Alli as a false nine.

Will Everton miss the services of Dominic Calvert-Lewin?