Frank Lampard addressed the 'incredible' schedule that Everton are in the midst of as they continue their fight to pull away from the relegation zone. The Blues travel to Burnley on Wednesday evening, three days after their defeat at West Ham and the same amount of time before welcoming Manchester United to Goodison park on Saturday lunchtime.
The Everton manager believes that could certainly have an effect on his team selection for the match as injuries and suspensions limit his options. Michael Keane and Allan remain suspended for the midweek match - with Nathan Patterson and Donny van de Beek being added to the list of injury absentees.
The Blues boss is exploring the possibility of having to shuffle his side around a little bit to make sure his squad stays fresh.
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He said: "Possibly, I'll have to look at the whole big picture of the team. Especially as we're playing this week - I don't know how - but we've been asked to play three games from Sunday, to Wednesday evening to Saturday morning.
"It's an incredible schedule really, when it could have been easily Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday or Sunday - but not the 12:30pm kick off. But we've got the short straw this week.
"I have to take that into consideration in terms of the fitness and freshness of the players as well."
The Blues are embroiled in a real battle at the bottom end of the table, which they have been in for much of the last few months. The clash against Burnley could be crucial in that fight, with the Clarets currently four points behind Everton in the Premier League table.
There's been a rising tension among supporters about the immediate future of their side and a sense that the match against Sean Dyche's squad could be pivotal. However, Lampard was keen to stay as calm as possible, and claimed he is in fact excited about the prospect of important matches facing his team.
"Tension can be a good thing, it can also go the other way. I don't feel tense, I actually feel excited with the level of game and the competitive nature of what this game is," he added.
"I loved, as a player, being involved in these competitive games where there's a lot on this. Now we have ten of those in front of us, and this is the first one.
"I'm calm and excited. When the game comes, we have to have an absolute belief in ourselves that we've done everything right and we know how we want to approach this game."
Burnley lost 2-0 at home to league leaders Man City last time out, but Lampard is under no illusions of the difficulty his side will face in the match. He believes that both the mental and physical battles will be key on Wednesday night.
Lampard remarked: "They've got a fantastic manager, they're used to playing in the Premier League. Not just surviving in the Premier League, that would be a disservice to them.
"They've had a lot of years now where they've had a lot of different relative success. They go into this run as the sort of team that know what they're doing, they do it well, and they make it very difficult.
"They have a certain style which is difficult to combat, and you have to be up for the basics of the game to be able to combat that. The physicality side of things. We have to do those things right to get something out of the game.
"It's a big deal, we're playing in a position and a reality that we're fighting at the bottom end of the table to try and stay in the league. That's been the case for a while but with every game that goes it becomes more intense.
"We can control lots of parts of that in terms of preparation, the squad will be very focused and very understanding of what we're going into. After that, it's about the performance."
