John Terry in, Frank Lampard out of Chelsea's match against West Ham
Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti has revealed that club captain John Terry will make his return from injury against West Ham United in the English Premier League Saturday.
However, midfielder Frank Lampard will miss out on making a return to his former club after failing to recover from a hernia operation in time.
Both players missed out on England’s first two UEFA 2012 European Football Championship qualifying matches against Bulgaria and Switzerland, with Terry using the international break to recover from a niggling hamstring injury. England did miss them much though, notching two impressive wins.
At a press conference today, Ancelotti told reporters that he hoped 32-year-old Lampard would be fit and ready to play in Chelsea’s opening UEFA Champions League group stage match against MSK Zilina on Tuesday.
'Needed to have a rest'
The Italian said that: “John is available to play. Lampard needs to have more time to rest. He trained with us this week and has done very well, but he needs to have more time. Maybe he'll be involved in the Champions League next week. I think these players needed to have a rest because they had problems. Terry resolved this problem during the two weeks. Lampard had to have the surgery. He did very well because, in seven days, he was able to train again. But obviously we want to give him more time to recover 100 per cent."
Terry will take his place in a Chelsea team that has taken the EPL by storm so far this season. In three league games to date, the defending champions have notched up two 6-0 victories, against Wigan Athletic and West Bromwich Albion, as well as a 2-0 win over Stoke City. With 29-year-old central defender Terry marshalling the back line, the side have also yet to concede a goal in the league this term.
Tags: