Chelsea
head coach Frank Lampard is still unsure when Ruben Loftus-Cheek will return
from his Achilles injury.
The 23-year-old has not played since rupturing his Achilles in a post-season
friendly against New England Revolution in May.
Lampard said the England international's recovery had not been going as
smoothly as planned, with a comeback date still unclear.
"He's had a few setbacks over the last two months," said Lampard.
"He hasn't had a new one, but he's not flying along as much as we would
want, and it's not for the want of trying from everybody.
"For Ruben himself of course there's nothing worse than being injured. But
at the moment he's no closer to being fit."
Tammy Abraham returned from injury to head his 11th Premier League goal of
the season then laid on Mason Mount's winner as Chelsea saw off Aston Villa
2-1 on Wednesday night.
"He's a personality that's growing in our dressing room every day with his
enthusiasm and his will to win," added Lampard.
"Tammy is a striker that's near the top of the goal-scoring charts in the
league, he's showing his all-round game, stretches defences, and he starts
our press.
"And of course if a player's on such a good run it's normal that if they go
out of the team that you can miss them, and today he came straight back in
as he left off."
top