Every word Frank Lampard just said on Rennes, Pulisic injury, Mendy impact and Thiago Silva

Latest on Christian Pulisic's injury?

"Christian had a scan yesterday that showed a very, very minor injury to his hamstring, very minor. So he's already back outside.

"He won't be fit tomorrow, but we'll see after that."

How much credit can Edouard Mendy take for the defensive stability?

"It must always be a collective, of the team and the squad and the work that we do, but of course when you come in and perform as well individually as he has, he's made a very good start to his career with us.

"He's shown his qualities that we brought him into the club for, brought confidence to those around him, so he should take credit, alongside others."

How you see the group shaping up, clean sheets vital?

"I think in the group we're happy, Seville was a tough game at home and I think both teams were happy with the result, and then we went and got a good result in Russia.

"So there's still a lot of work to do to make sure we don't get complacent at this point, because we know that if Rennes come and get a result at our place it changes the face of the table.

"So we must stay on top of ourselves, and the three recent clean sheets have been great.

"It was obviously something we were looking at and wanting to improve from last season.

"We analysed the reasons why we weren't as good as we wanted to be, so we've seen some progression in that, but that has to remain a work in progress, we can't come off that.

"The concentration and focus in the team has been great, and it needs to stay that way."

Edouard Mendy seems to have a good personality?

"When we were in to look to sign Edou, we made the inquiries, Petr Cech was heavily involved which is pretty common knowledge.

"All the feedback was that he had a very strong personality in the dressing room.

"And everything I heard, was that he's very low maintenance, works hard, wants to work more, and he's eager to engage with team-mates and myself, he has a smile on his face and has played well.

"So it's a real positive when you have a player that comes in and hits the ground running on the pitch, but also is a real positive in the dressing room. And he's been that."

Mendy has had a great start. Where can he get better?

"I don't want to get into where he can improve, I think what he's shown so far has been very complete.

"Those clean sheets have shown big parts of his game, he's made saves in moments in games that have certainly helped us, where if the goal had gone in the games could have gone another way.

"Against Manchester United particularly in the first-half his save from Marcus Rashford with his feet was a really top-class save.

"He's given off a sense of calm in his distribution and coming for crosses, and things that you just want from your goalkeepers.

"And he's done that, and I'm sure he'll improve.

"When he's talking about that (Cech) I'm sure he's talking about the fact it's early days for him at the club as he's still settling in to a degree.

"But while I don't want to play this down I don't want to get too ahead of ourselves. It's been a really good start for him, he's very confident and he's shown great qualities so far.

"I think there is going to be a lot more to come, and with his attitude which is key, and I've seen how he wants to work and how he wants to be, and the humility in him, I think he can go much further, in many departments."

How tough is the dual challenge of Premier League and Champions League?

"That's always a big challenge for top clubs, even in normal seasons it's demanding on a squad to play as regularly as we are. And now it's even tighter.

"Hence why a lot of managers now, particularly managers in Europe, are calling for more subs in the Premier League because know these demands can take players to places where they are in real injury risk.

"So there are factors around it, but I don't want to dwell too much on that, we have to deal with what's in front of us, we do have a pretty fit squad at the moment.

"And it's important we just concentrate on ourselves game by game at the moment, because of where we're at, because we are in a bit of a process where we've brought new players in and we are striving to improve in every game.

"So I enjoy using these games to get better if we can, and we've seen nice uplift in different parts of our game recently.

"But over the course of the season and in this early group stage with how many Premier League games there are too, it's very taxing on the players, but we have to do the best we can."

Pulisic a relief he's not long-term again. What about wider muscle injuries for him?

"It is obviously a relief for the injury to be minor.

"He made the right decision in not attempting to play the game, because he could have made it worse.

"So it's clearly a relief that he will be back very soon, because he's an important player for us.

"With the actual muscle injuries, it's a hard one to call, it's forever going to be a challenge, some players that play on the edge, have such speed and acceleration in their game, maybe they can be more susceptible.

"I don't think that's a one-fits-all answer, because it's different for everybody.

"From last season we were looking at ways of managing Christian and looking at ways of being proactive in not hopefully getting so many injuries, I know that's something he's experienced previously in his career at Dortmund as well.

"So we're all working in the same direction on that one, to try to get him to be as fit as regularly as possible, because we all know his talent."

Worried about medium to long-term fitness of your players?

"Yes, I think we are and I am. We understand what missing a pre-season does and when the short turnaround does and not having that base. Normally, you have four to five weeks but I was aware of it as a player when I came back from international tournaments and pre-season was short that it would reflect the start of my season or hit me later on in the season.

"I have seen that with this group of players with a lack of pre-season and being thrust into game after game. At Chelsea, we do have a squad here and it is my job to balance getting consistency in selection, particularly if we are in good form, but also making sure the squad stays as fit and fresh as they can because I know the demands over a long season will be tough. It is something that is being talked about a lot.

"It is not an excuse and it is not a cry from myself, Pep Guardiola or any other manager who talks about it. It is just reality because we see it. We travelled to Manchester and back, Russia and back and Burnley and back last week. Great, we are doing the job we love. But let’s get it straight, there are physical demands on the players and that’s what we are trying to work against to keep everyone as fit and fresh as we can for the rest of the season."

Thiago Silva, are you managing his fitness?

"It is very important. It is a question I have been asked about Christian Pulisic earlier and N’Golo Kante a lot towards the end of last season. Within the squad, you try to have standards and levels to do physical work. We gauge everyday the physical work and input of the players.

"We try to balance it out so everyone is as optimum as they can and every player is different in their own way. Around the general rule of how we train, whether I talk a lot to the sports science team who can give me some clues added to what I see. Some of it is with my eye and the staff, then a lot of it is through your relationships and speaking to them. Particularly, when you have an experienced player who is as great of a professional as Thiago Silva is, that conversation is very easy.

"We are managing his training and game time, as we did last week in Russia. I’ll be very up front and honest with him, in terms of what I think, and what he thinks. I remember at the back end of my career that I had to change my training programme so I will be open to small tweaks from Thiago."

What makes Edouard Mendy 'low maintenance'?

"When I say low maintenance, I am not comparing to other players and definitely not other goalkeepers! What I have seen is a player with a massive work ethic who wants to train well every day. With goalkeepers, they train separately from the main squad sometimes so a lot of that is feedback from the coaches and I have had that feedback for the other goalkeepers. What is nice, that he has shown a great work ethic.

"He smiles every day, he doesn’t ask one million questions but the right ones about his relationship with the players around him on the pitch. Things I love for players to engage with each other. So I have really enjoyed that positive side of his engagement. He hasn’t knocked on my door much but maybe he doesn’t have a reason to. So that’s fair play and I just sense that from him. The squad generally is low maintenance. If sometimes there’s moments that players have to speak to me, that’s football, people are different. I am not saying that talking a lot is a bad thing if it suits your personality. It seems his personality is laid back with a tough edge to work."

No grassroots sport for children during lockdown, what are your thoughts on that?

"I am a massive advocate for children to play all sorts of sports. So I don’t want to sound like I am going against that but in unprecedented times, we are relying on the government and the scientists and the people in charge. I would be stupid to jump into the political arguments too much to say if it can be done in a safe and comfortable way for the children and the families, with schools remaining open, and we can do it in a safe way then for physical and mental health we must strive to do it as much as we can."

Burnley is a test for players… is it something that impressed you with Mendy-Silva?

"With Edou and Thiago, we give as much information as we can. They are two players who are thirsty for information. With Thiago, I spoke a lot with him about the style of game that it would be and he was very interested to hear it which shows me a top professional who wants to prepare every detail which they both did in their individual ways. It was a good game for both of them and the team. In terms of the result, it is always a difficult place to go and get a result, particularly a convincing result because their direct nature of their game at times can cause threats in your box. We negated those in a big way. After the game, I said it was important to have perspective. I had perspective when we had lesser performances and dropped performances this year.

"The same when we win and win comfortably, there is a lot of work to be done. There was a nice side shown to our game both with the ball and without it but we are still trying to improve. The bigger thing with me is to feel the confidence of the team in the way they played, the way they were secure in not too much pressure in their own box and the comfort of the passing options we had throughout the game. That was a big thing for me and we need to carry it forward."

Kids with your own and worry about how they are coping mentally and physical in a tough time?

"I do worry, I am a father. In keeping sport facilities open in the next month and the short term, it is a tough one because I don’t know all the information. I don't know as a parent you can affect it as much as you can by being active and encouraging your child to be active in this tough time and in a safe way. Walk with them, take them to the park or if you have outside space, to use it. I think that’s a great thing to do. I was fortunate that I had a sporting family and it happened naturally for me. I know not everyone has that circumstance around them but I would encourage it if we can find a way to keep children active. But it has to be in a safe way because this is somewhere we have never been before. I hope we can find the right solutions. I think it is a great initiative so we can have conversations and to not see problems come back later in these children's lives."