Lampard, Milner ready for Ukraine clash

Frank Lampard has backed England to overcome the loss of John Terry for their 2014 World Cup qualifier against Ukraine on Tuesday.

Centre-back Terry suffered an ankle injury during England’s 5-0 win away to Moldova on Friday, ruling him out of the next match at Wembley Stadium.

His Chelsea colleague Lampard acknowledged the veteran’s absence will be a blow, but is confident Terry’s understudies are capable of filling the void.

“John’s … a top player who experienced in playing these kinds of qualifying games, so it’d be a blow to anyone,” he said.

“But I think we are blessed with fantastic back-up players who didn’t play the other night, like Gary Cahill and Phil Jagielka.

“I think whoever comes in there is an experienced, top player. As in any case when you lose a big player in your team, you need the squad to step up and I’m sure we’ve got that.”

England were somewhat fortunate to beat Ukraine 1-0 when the two teams met in Group D of the European Championships in June, and midfielder James Milner knows first-hand how much of a challenge Oleg Blokhin’s team will pose.

“Well, obviously it will be slightly different, although the squads will be similar,” he said.

“This time it’s on our home turf and we need to make sure that we put in a good performance and they showed at the Euros that they are no pushovers.

“They’re a strong side with a number of good players; well-organised and they work very hard applying pressure for 90 minutes.”

“We need to be on top of our game.

“If we can perform like we did the other night (against Moldova) and come out of the traps quickly, then hopefully we can get an early goal again, settle down and then play some good football.”