Chelsea gaffer Frank Lampard persisted that USA international Christian Pulisic should not play too many games this season.
The USA speedster scored 11 goals in the debut Premier League campaign. Evidently, Pulisic also managed to come up with nine assists for Lampard’s side.
Although, the 22-year-old striker missed the beginning of the new season. He suffered from a hamstring injury when Chelsea lost to Arsenal in the FA Cup final.
Subsequently, the Blues boss admits that he should be treated with more care. Lampard believes that the club’s physios should work on Pulisic’s injury prevention.
“There is always a concern about players’ fitness when the history says there have been some injuries,” said Lampard in a press conference.
“Last season we had some with Christian and I was questioned many times on my position on Christian when he was in or out of the side and he didn’t play.
“Of course, when you look at his recent record you are looking for the right balance to get the best out of him, which you saw in big periods last year. And you’re looking to make sure you don’t overcook him and leave him susceptible to injury.
“Particularly when a player has his explosive power and balance, that’s a fine line. We are working on that and Christian is very open to that.
“He wants to play, he is so hungry to play and he is nearly fit now, but it is certainly something we are going to have to manage this season.
“We have all seen the talent. It’s something we want to get right.
“I am not saying it’s a fundamental, chronic type of an issue. It’s not. But we want to get as many minutes as we can out of the really great Christian that we saw lots of last season on the pitch.
“Christian isn’t ready for West Brom and neither is Hakim Ziyech, but they are both training with us now which is good news. We hope to have them with us in proper match contention over the next week or two.”
Chelsea won against Barnsley in the EFL Cup on Wednesday. New signings Thiago Silva and Ben Chilwell performed well in their debut appearances. The London club witnessed victory at the Stamford Bridge by 6-0.
The Blues face West Brom on the away turf on Saturday in the English League. Lampard believes that both the new recruits are ready to play. The club faces Tottenham and Crystal Palace in the upcoming weeks.
“I believe they are fit enough to start,” said Lampard, of Silva and Chilwell.
“But I also have to take into consideration the fact that we play another game with quite a tight turnaround on Tuesday, and then another on Saturday, and then some players might play three games for their countries so I am managing that one.
“They came through the game on Wednesday and I think Thiago had 60 minutes in the tank, so that was good to see.
“With Ben, I might be a little bit more cautious because his injury has been quite a challenging one.
“I will make the calls but they are in a good place at the moment.”
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