Chelsea manager Frank Lampard believes that Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s return to full fitness is being hampered by the enforced break in football fixtures during the global health crisis.

The 24-year-old had played for the club’s Under 23s as he looked to build up his match sharpness following ten months out with an Achilles injury, but Lampard says the midfielder has now lost that opportunity:

“It is a bit frustrating because we had just got to the stage where Ruben was looking like he might be ready to play soon. So that match fitness thing we were looking for, we’ve kind of lost that.”

Lampard did, however, say that N’Golo Kante and Callum Hudson-Odoi should now be fit if and when the season resumes.

Kante has been out with a muscular injury, while Hudson-Odoi had to deal with contracting the Coronavirus as well as recovering from a troublesome hamstring problem.

With Christian Pulisic also confirming he is fit and ready to go following a groin injury, Chelsea’s injury list is improving, although there have been no recent updates on the fitness of the likes of Mateo Kovacic (Achilles) and Tammy Abraham (ankle).