Frank Lampard will again be unable to call on Hakim Ziyech next Sunday when Chelsea gets a visit from reigning champion Liverpool at Stamford Bridge. The manager of the Blues announce Friday during the press conference leading up to the meeting with the reigning champion that the offensive midfielder and outdoor player are not yet available. Christian Pulisic, Ben Chilwell and Thiago Silva are not on Chelsea’s side either.

Ziyech came in action for Chelsea for the first time on Saturday 29 August in a practice match with Brighton & Hove Albion. He made a good impression, but still had mixed feelings about his unofficial debut. In the opening phase of the second half, he was pulled aside after he sustained an injury while taking a free kick. Stumbling he left the field, to be replaced by Conor Gallagher.

Because of that Ziyech had to let go of the first league game with Brighton & Hove Albion (1-3 victory) last Monday. In the run up to that game, Lampard said they hoped it would be a ‘matter of weeks’ before Ziyech was fit again. “Ziyech is not ready for the upcoming game”, Lampard announced Friday at the press conference in the run-up to the home game with Liverpool. “Chilwell isn’t ready for the match either, the same goes for Pulisic. We hope they will be able to train again next week to make progress. Timo Werner is fit.”

“Thiago trained in the last three or four days. We are working to get him fit, but Liverpool is still too early for him”, signs Goal on Thiago Silva from Lampard over from Paris Saint-Germain. “He’s definitely a leader, that’s in his nature. He doesn’t speak great English, he still has to work on that. But we have several players in the selection who speak different languages, so they help him with that. In training he commands respect and I am looking forward to have him in my team”.

“I don’t think this game is going to decide anything yet, it’s only the second game of the season”, Lampard looks forward to meeting Liverpool. “We’ve booked a hard-won victory over Brighton, which felt a bit like a friendly match in terms of fitness. Now we’re up against last season’s champion, which is a nice challenge. I think we were pretty evenly matched last season. It’s going to be a challenge to get three points.”