Lampard's prolonged lay-off causes concern at Chelsea

The Chelsea and England midfielder Frank Lampard will miss tomorrow's trip to Liverpool in the Premier League and is still not fit enough to train with the first team after more than two months out with a groin injury.

Lampard is going through the longest injury lay-off of his career, having missed 12 Chelsea games since undergoing surgery on a hernia in August. He has been training alone, and is yet to kick a ball with the rest of the team despite the initial diagnosis not being too serious.

Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti said: "We've taken time to put him 100 per cent fit, it was not an easy problem, this is the only reason. We don't want to take a risk."