Lampard insists he will not change tactics despite wingers’ injuries

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Chelsea boss Frank Lampard has no intention of changing tactics to deal with the ongoing injury problems with his first-choice wingers.

Lampard stuck with his trusted 4-3-3 formation in the surprise 1-0 loss away against Everton on Saturday, despite being without Hakim Ziyech, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Christian Pulisic.


German duo Timo Werner and Kai Havertz played out wide, but Lampard’s side struggled to find the fluency that had been the hallmark of their 17-game unbeaten run heading into the game at Goodison Park.

Ziyech and Hudson-Odoi remain sidelined and although Pulisic is fit to face Wolves on Tuesday, the American may not be risked from the start.

“It wasn’t the formation we didn’t get right at Everton,” Lampard said. “It was the way we executed it.

“We can’t make the excuse of not having wingers available. We have players capable playing in those areas.

“What we have to come to terms is with, it felt like Everton played very similar to Tottenham and tried to stop us doing what we’ve been doing well. It’s up to us to come up with other ways.

“We didn’t move the ball quickly enough and turn them around. We have to have ways to get around that. Our level dropped. At our top level, we could have got our way around that.

“The Premier League is unforgiving. We saw that with different results over the weekend. We weren’t at top level on Saturday and we got beaten.

“We were on great run but we dropped our levels. We didn’t quite perform and we lost the game.”