Lampard hopeful over Rudiger groin injury

Chelsea boss Frank Lampard is hopeful Antonio Rudiger will not miss any time after he had to leave the thrilling 5-2 win over Wolves with a groin injury.

Prior to the match, Lampard had called on Rudiger, 26, to become a leader for his young squad but his return to action came to a premature end at half-time on Saturday.

The former Roma defender was making his first appearance since suffering a serious knee injury in April, but had to be replaced by Kurt Zouma at Molineux.

But Lampard is optimistic over Rudiger’s status ahead of Chelsea facing Valencia in the Champions League on Tuesday.

“He’s had a groin issue which he bothered as he came off the pitch near me – he slipped onto the metal which made him have to slide and adjust himself so he bothered his groin,” Lampard explained in his post-match news conference.

“He ran off the pitch and unfortunately he bothered it then. It’s a quick turnaround but hopefully [he can play Valencia]. Hopefully not too bad.

“It’s more of a precaution because he did feel some pain, so we’ll assess it over the next couple of days.”

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Nuno, meanwhile, rued defensive mistakes after Tammy Abraham’s hat-trick, along with goals from Fikayo Tomori and Mason Mount, left Wolves second-bottom in the Premier League table.

Abraham also had an own goal, with Patrick Cutrone’s first Wolves goal one of the only positives to emerge.

“Bad performance, bad game,” said Nuno. “We started well – good pressing, good organisation – but we suffered a goal and didn’t react well.

“We made a second mistake and were two goals down. It was tough, we didn’t perform. Too many goals, too many mistakes. What I think is [we have to] realise what happened and not repeat it. We have to work hard and go again on Thursday [against Braga].

“Of course, we have to change, we have to improve. We have to become better and we cannot make mistakes. The only solution: work.

“Sometimes it was credit to Chelsea, good goals, but some of those from the eight [conceded in last two games] were clear mistakes that we must not repeat.”