Everton manager Frank Lampard has issued fitness updates on Alex Iwobi and Dominic Calvert-Lewin ahead of their home game against Southampton, revealing that his Nigerian international midfielder could be in contention for a shock return. Last Sunday, Everton announced that Iwobi was set to spend three weeks on the sidelines after being stretchered off in the 3-1 FA Cup defeat at Manchester United but in his pre-match press conference ahead of the Saints’ visit, Lampard said: “It’s a lesser injury than what we thought. We’ll see in the morning whether he’s ready to play tomorrow.”
Lampard, who confirmed James Garner should be back next month also had positive news over Dominic Calvert-Lewin who had started on the bench at Old Trafford due to fatigue but refused to go into details over Andros Townsend who has been out since suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury against previous club Crystal Palace on March 20 last year. He said: “Dominic has had a good week. We played three games in six days going into Manchester United so we had to be careful with that one.
“He’s in a good place, he’s had a nice week training, we’ve been managing him as well as we possibly can so he’s in a good place, he’s fit. Andros is still a few weeks away and because it’s been a difficult injury I’ll come back to you as such when it feels like he’s really getting close because I don’t want to put pressure on him but hopefully a few weeks away.”
