KEY POINTS

  • Lampard expects Werner to play against Liverpool
  • Pulisic remains out with an injury for the Blues
  • Lampard to try out different formations moving forward

Chelsea FC won big against Brighton but the victory did not come without a cost. While most were still high on the performance of players like Reece James, Jorginho and Kurt Zouma, Timo Werner took one for the Blues. He suffered a dead leg in that match but Lampard believes the new acquisition will be ready by the time they face Liverpool.

"Timo took the knock when he won the penalty," Lampard said to reporters. "It's more of a dead leg we hope so I wouldn't think too much in terms of next week there.”

Werner won on a penalty in his debut match for the Blues and the hit he took is now seen nothing more as a dead leg. Lampard is confident that the German striker will be ready for their next match although the same may not hold for Christian Pulisic.

In a report from Goal, Pulisic did not join Chelsea on the trip. He suffered a hamstring injury in their FA Cup final loss to Arsenal and it appears the 21-year-old midfielder has suffered a setback trying to get fit against Brighton.

"Christian was training with us last week, but he had a little bit of discomfort a couple of days ago where he was trying to train with us and being in contention for today, it would've been a big ask for today," Lampard said. "But he's had to take a few steps back so we'll have to see so that's one I don't have big news on at the minute. We'll see."

With Pulisic out and Werner uncertain, Lampard will need to experiment with different formations moving forwards. He used a 4-3-3 formation against Brighton with Werner in the middle of a three-pronged attack alongside Kai Havertz and Mason Mount.

But from the way he sounded, it was an experiment to find out new formations putting to full use the talent he has at his disposal. They have a lot of attacking players and Lampard wants fluidity. That was not seen against Brighton.

"I don't want to pin us down to one system. We have three or four players who want to play as a number 10 for us but I want us to be adaptable," Lampard said via NBC Sports.

Reality check: Chelsea boss Frank Lampard
Reality check: Chelsea boss Frank Lampard AFP / Glyn KIRK