Dominic Calvert-Lewin's injury is a hammer blow to Frank Lampard's preparations for the new season.
The knee injury suffered in training by the 25-year-old will keep him out of the opening game against Chelsea and potentially for several games beyond. It is a bitter shock for a player who had looked so impressive in pre-season after injury blighted his last campaign.
For Lampard it is also a reminder of the difficulties he faced last season. Tasked with rescuing an Everton side sinking towards relegation he had to deal with a cruel injury list that often left him without star players.
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Injuries cast a long shadow over last season and there is a danger they could do the same to the start of the new campaign. Calvert-Lewin's issue came out of the blue, described by Lampard as a "freak" injury suffered while doing a "passing" motion. His absence follows the final game of Everton's pre-season, a match that saw Tom Davies, Andre Gomes and Yerry Mina all miss out as a result of knocks. Davies and Mina had played regularly throughout the summer friendlies. The extent of the injuries was unclear going into last weekend, though it had been hoped Mina would return to training within days.
Back-up goalkeeper Asmir Begovic is another player who did not feature over pre-season after sustaining an injury in the early days of the US tour while club captain Seamus Coleman is recovering from surgery on a hernia issue that he fought through during the final games of last season. Allan came off the bench against Kyiv but he was considered unavailable to start while he also recovers from an injury.
An update on who has recovered and who remains on the injury list is likely on Thursday afternoon, when Lampard delivers his press conference ahead of the Chelsea match.
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