Frank Lampard has confirmed that Dominic Calvert-Lewin will miss his first game as Everton manager through injury.
Calvert-Lewin was Everton’s top scorer last season with 21 goals in all competitions but after netting three in as many matches at the start of the current campaign, he was sidelined for four months with a quadriceps injury.
The 24-year-old returned to action against Brighton & Hove Albion on January 2 – missing a penalty which he fired over the crossbar – and has failed to find the net in his last three outings since coming back.
Speaking in his inaugural press conference as Blues boss, Lampard revealed that the centre-forward will miss his first game in charge – Saturday’s FA Cup fourth round tie against Brentford at Goodison Park – but allayed any fears that the player might face another prolonged spell on the sidelines.
He said: “Dominic Calvert-Lewin picked up a small knock in the last game (the 1-0 home defeat to Aston Villa) so he won’t be available for this weekend.
“We know Abdoulaye Doucoure is out and Fabian Delph will be out, which will be slightly longer than that but with Dominic we hope he can be back and outside over the next days and ready for the games coming up.
“Other than that, we are pretty good and obviously we have some players who are cup-tied also ( Anwar El Ghazi plus transfer deadline day signings Donny van de Beek and Dele Alli ) so I’m aware of where the squad is.”
