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Football London
Football London
Sport
Oliver Harbord & Andy Ha

Chelsea face double injury worry ahead of crunch Champions League clash against Lille

Chelsea face a wait to see if Fikayo Tomori and Olivier Giroud will be fit for the Champions League clash against Lille on Tuesday night.

The pair were not spotted with the rest of the Chelsea squad at training on Monday, leaving their participation against the Ligue 1 side in doubt.

Tomori's absence in particular would be a blow for Frank Lampard, who may have decided to change his back four after the 3-1 defeat to Everton at the weekend.

The England defender did not start at Goodison Park with Andreas Christensen and Kurt Zouma preferred for the second consecutive league match, but the partnership looked shaky in the second half, with Zouma at fault for Dominic Calvert-Lewin's first goal.

Giroud, who was not named in the Chelsea squad on Saturday, last started in the 1-0 defeat to West Ham but Tammy Abraham's return to fitness leaves his chances of first team football looking remote in the near future.

Speaking after the Everton match, Blues boss Lampard admitted his frustration at the performance from his side.

“You dominate a game in possession, you’re playing a team that have got a lot of fighting spirit where they’re trying to fight for their interim manager and for themselves, and we’ve got to do more than we did,” Lampard said to BT Sport.

“Work rate is one thing, I’d expect us to match everyone in the league on that, but sometimes physical contact is another.

“If you’re not going to win headers or balls are going to bounce down and you’re not going to go through the ball and the man a little bit, then at places like Goodison especially it’s going to be really tough to go and win like that."

On Everton’s third goal, Lampard added: “It’s a really poor mistake from us.

“Kepa passes it straight to Theo (Walcott), after that there are two more mistakes. We can’t defend like that.

“If ever there’s been a game that shows in one little package how far we still need to go, then I think it was today.

“We get into their box so many times and score one goal in the game, and they get in our box a few times but with our own sloppiness they score.”

Chelsea can guarantee qualification from their Champions League group with a victory over Lille. A draw would also suffice if Valencia are beaten by Ajax.

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