The good vibes that could’ve come from Everton’s fight in a 1-0 loss to Chelsea on Saturday at Goodison Park are covered in dark clouds.
Ben Godfrey was lost with a bone break in the first half and fellow center back Yerry Mina also left the Premier League Week 1 match with injury as the Toffees could not overcome a Jorginho penalty and fell to 0-1.
Playing with five at the back including three center backs, James Tarkowski was the lone CB to go the distance as Mason Holgate subbed in for Godfrey before halftime and the Blues reorganized when Ruben Vinagre entered for Mina in the 70th minute.
WATCH EVERTON vs CHELSEA FULL MATCH REPLAY
Michael Keane was an unused sub and young Jarrad Branthwaite was loaned to PSV Eindhoven.
Godfrey’s injury was ugly as his desperation slide to block a Kai Havertz shot saw officials quickly calling for a stretcher as part of prolonged treatment that caused almost 10 minutes of first-half stoppage time.
“It feels like it’s a small fracture, lower down,” Lampard said. “We’re assessing it. It looks like he’s going to be out for a while. We had a bit of that last season, unfortunately. We’ll have to get through that. ... When it rains, it pours.”
Frank Lampard reaction: Answers at forward are coming
The good news, according to Lampard, is that there are answers coming at Everton’s other big position of need: forward.
While Richarlison was sold to Tottenham and Dominic Calvert-Lewin is out for weeks, Salomon Rondon will be back from suspension and there is a new face coming soon.
“We’ve got no number nine so we had to be constantly mobile,” Lampard said. “That’s a big ask on the first day of the season. I thought we did it okay today against a team of Chelsea’s level. I thought we created them a lot of problems. I don’t want to criticize the team too much because the mobility was good.
“We want to have a couple more options. We’re all moving in that direction. Dominic [Calvert-Lewin]’s not going to be out forever. We’ve lost Richarlison. One player is being finalized as we speak. I don’t want to stand here and say it’s done, but we’re very close.”
In other transfer news, Amadou Onana was spotted at Goodison Park and Everton is also said to be closing in on former Toffee and current PSG midfielder Idrissa Gana Gueye.
They definitely need the help.