Everton are already experiencing a number of injuries early into the Premier League season with Mason Holgate one of the players who has been unfortunately side-lined at Goodison Park, and now a new claim has been made on the defender's recovery.

What's the latest?

According to Premier League injury expert Ben Dinnery, Holgate has likely suffered damage to his medial collateral ligament.

Dinnery told Football Insider:

"If you’re looking at an external force, a tackle from the outside of the knee, it’s the job of the MCL to resist that force."

"So, he will probably have a slight strain."

"We understand that it is not on the serious side, and Lampard is hoping for it to be weeks rather than months. However, it may be after the international break given its close proximity."

It's a blow for Lampard

It's definitely a blow for Frank Lampard that Holgate could be missing until after the international break at the end of the month, especially with Yerry Mina and Ben Godfrey both out already with injuries with timeframes of over a month.

Holgate is an experienced Everton player with 144 appearances under his belt, so there is no doubt that the 25-year-old will be missed over the next few fixtures that will be testing for the team, as they host the Merseyside Derby today and then travel to the Emirates next week to play currently unbeaten Arsenal.

It is looking like the problems of the past are repeating themselves already at Goodison Park, with the side tallying up the worst injury record in the entire Premier League last season and as a result, struggled to pick up points in games.

The Toffees are without a single win after five outings over their current campaign, and Lampard will be hoping that he has done enough to strengthen the side as much as possible to ensure they don't fall into another relegation scrap at the bottom of the table.

Everton signed both James Tarkowski and Conor Coady over the transfer window to boost their squad depth and improve the quality in the back-line, and it's a huge blessing that they did sign both players as they will be desperately needed whilst the other three centre-backs recover over the coming weeks and months.

With that being said, Lampard will be hoping the mounting injuries at the club won't dampen their chances when they host Liverpool this afternoon as picking up their first win of the season at Goodison Park against their biggest rivals would be a huge confidence boost for the team.