Everton haven't had the best start to their Premier League campaign with no points on the board as yet, and now Frank Lampard has revealed another injury setback that will worry the Goodison Park faithful.
What's the latest?
The Everton manager took to his post-match press conference after the loss to Aston Villa on Saturday afternoon to confirm Abdoulaye Doucoure has suffered a hamstring injury.
Lampard revealed (via EvertonFC.com):
“Doucoure has a hamstring injury that we will assess in the next few days. It wasn't a sudden ping, it was more of a tightness - so we will see.
“[Losing Doucoure was significant] because in two games we've had injuries and had to use a sub in the first half [Ben Godfrey was hurt in the opening half against Chelsea].
The Toffees midfielder limped off the pitch in the 35th minute of the first half at Villa Park.
Bad news for Lampard
There is no doubt that this is bad news for the Everton boss as Doucoure becomes his seventh player to suffer an injury over the last month, and it's looking like the problems of last season are already repeating themselves.
The 29-year-old joins Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Andre Gomes, Andros Townsend, Ben Godfrey, Yerry Mina and Allan on the injury table at Finch Farm, which will be a huge headache for Lampard as Everton had the worst injury record in the entire Premier League last season which ultimately led to a relegation scrap at the bottom of the table.
Everton are yet to score a goal or pick up a point in the Premier League, losing to both Chelsea and Aston Villa so far and the Toffees boss will be desperate to turn their bad start around, but with Doucoure now suffering an injury the squad is weakened even further.
The £120k-per-week midfielder put in a solid performance in the centre of the pitch against Thomas Tuchel's side in the opening game of the season at Goodison Park.
Despite giving away a penalty, Doucoure completed five tackles, 100% of his dribble attempts, won seven out of his ten aerial and ground duels combined, as well as tallying up a pass accuracy of 89%.
The silver lining for Lampard is that the transfer window remains open for another two weeks so he still has the opportunity to replace Doucoure if he doesn't make a speedy recovery over the next few weeks, but with Everton working to a tight budget and prioritising a striker signing it may not be viable.
With that being said, Lampard will now need to wait to get a full picture of how long Doucoure will be out of the squad, and it will be interesting to see if the club make a move for another midfielder to strengthen the centre of the pitch for the time being.