Round-up: Kovacic sidelined and Lampard defends Alonso
Chelsea midfielder Mateo Kovacic has been sidelined by an Achilles problem.
Boss Frank Lampard revealed on Friday afternoon that Kovacic will miss Saturday’s game against Watford and possibly also next week’s London derby at Crystal Palace.
Lampard said: “Kovacic is going to be out of this game.
“He hurt his Achilles during the West Ham game and will miss this one and possibly the one after that. Hopefully it won’t be too long after that.”
And Fiyako Tomori is still unavailable.
Lampard said the defender, who recently picked up a muscle injury in training, has not yet been able to return to full training.
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Lampard defends Alonso and is ‘not aware’ of talks to sell Emerson
Lampard has insisted that criticism of Marcos Alonso in the wake of Chelsea’s midweek defeat at West Ham has been unfair.
Lampard’s former England team-mate Gary Neville. speaking on Sky Sports, accused Alonso of costing his side the game after the left-back was woefully slow to track back in the build up to West Ham’s late winner.
But Lampard, who defended his back four after the match, continues to state that he believes the whole team should take responsibility for several errors made during the 3-2 defeat.
“It’s much easier to comment from afar,” Lampard said.
“I don’t think it’s quite fair to just look at Marcos.”
Meanwhile, reports in Italy suggest Chelsea and Inter Milan are discussing a deal for Emerson to join the Serie A club.
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Fulham set to sign Knockaert on permanent deal
Scott Parker has confirmed that Fulham are poised to sign Anthony Knockaert from Brighton on a permanent deal.
The Frenchman, 28, moved to Craven Cottage on a season-long loan last summer and has been a key player in Fulham’s battle for promotion back to the Premier League.
“It’s a deal we’re looking to make permanent,” Whites boss Parker said.
“He’s done extremely well. I think Anthony would be the first to say as well that he can still bring even more.
“He’s a pleasure to work with and I look forward to having him more long-term.”
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New deals at QPR
Niko Hamalainen is among 20 players to have been given new contracts by QPR.
Faysal Bettache, who recently made his league debut for the club, is also among a host of youngsters to have been given new deals.
The club have also taken up options to extend the contracts of Hamalainen, Dylan Duncan, Ody Alfa and goalkeeper Marcin Brzozowski by a further year.
Hamalainen, 23, been with Rangers since 2014 and made three Championship appearances, two of them as a substitute.
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‘Tricky’ for Bees to stay focused – Frank
Thomas Frank admits it is going to be “tricky” for Brentford to keep their focus as they chase automatic promotion.
The Bees are bearing down on the top two – Leeds and West Brom – with seven games left after three straight wins since the restart.
Boss Frank admits the team’s lack of experience is also a factor but hopes their hunger will work in their favour.
“It’s a tricky one, honestly, because, of course, we have been talking about the next game, next training, the whole season – and that’s still the aim,” he said ahead of Wigan’s visit to Griffin Park on Saturday.
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