The possible detrimental effect of the recently crowded spell of games over Christmas and New Year has been in the spotlight following a succession of injuries to leading strikers Harry Kane, Marcus Rashford, Jamie Vardy and our own Tammy Abraham. It was a subject Lampard discussed yesterday although he was quick to point out the Chelsea centre-forward’s is an impact injury unlike the others. The discussion continues today.



‘The physical demands are maybe year on year becoming more and more demanding for the players,’ says Lampard.



‘Physically I am demanding in what I want from my players on and off the ball and those things when you are playing regularly can be a bit of a strain. I don’t think it has come that far from when I was playing but even when I was playing, I remember at times being rotated or players around me being rotated so I don’t think that is completely new. It is probably just done a little bit more since I have finished, but I think the demands are getting more.

‘Now we do have a winter break. You can argue when that break is because these injuries have come just before it so maybe that puts it under the spotlight. But we do have the two-week break now and I think that will be a benefit for sure.



‘Probably in my era the constant demands of the Premier League right through the season were something that could be seen as having an effect. It is not an excuse but I think it did have an effect.’



Lampard has reported that Michy Batshuayi will start up front today at Hull but Reece James has not recovered sufficiently from injury to be involved.

Read: Our preview to today's FA Cup game



