Everton defender Vitalii Mykolenko has issued an injury update after he was unable to feature in Ukraine's defeat to Scotland on Wednesday night.
The 23-year-old was an unused substitute in the 3-0 loss at Hampden Park and he's revealed he felt a 'discomfort' during Everton 's win over West Ham before the international break. Any potential injury for Mykolenko will come as a huge blow for Frank Lampard as Nathan Patterson was also forced off for Scotland last night through injury.
Mykolenko has started every single one of the Blues' league matches so far this campaign and has become a key figure for Lampard since he arrived on Merseyside in January. He'll now face a waiting game to see if he's fit for another meeting with Scotland and a clash with Armenia in the Nations League over the next week.
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"Probably, I won't be able to help the guys tomorrow, because even now I'm not taking part in training and I'm not preparing for the match (against Scotland)," he told Ukraine's official media ahead of the game.
"I felt discomfort during the last match of the English championship, and today the doctors conducted an examination and said that everything is more or less fine, but we have to wait a little. If the coaches take me, I will prepare for the next meetings."
Blues boss Lampard was full of praise for both of his full backs after the draw against Liverpool earlier this month. “I’ve got to give a big shout-out to both fullbacks in their own ways,” he said.
“With Myko, what he is dealing with off the pitch is something we can’t imagine. He carries it unbelievably well when you consider what is going on back home. When I first came in, he had not been here long. My question was does he belong in this league?
“It was to show the reasons why we signed him basically and I’ve just seen him grow, defensively, offensively. Going up against one of the best (in Salah ) I thought his one-on-one was outstanding.”
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