Coventry City: Frank Lampard issues update on Haji Wright situation | OneFootball

Coventry City head coach Frank Lampard has offered an update on Haji Wright's return from injury

New Coventry City head coach Frank Lampard has confirmed the side will be without leading scorer Haji Wright for the remainder of the month, starting with Saturday afternoon's trip to Portsmouth.

Overall, the former Derby County and Chelsea figure has made a mixed start to life at the CBS Arena since taking over at the back-end of last month following the contentious sacking of long-serving boss Mark Robins.

Lampard was forced to settle for a draw against lowly Cardiff City in his first game in charge and has chalked up two wins and a defeat since, with victories over Millwall and most recently Hull City coming either side of a 2-0 loss at West Bromwich Albion last week.

Although it's still early days as far as Lampard's tenure is concerned, Coventry are simply getting better results on the board than they were under Robins and that bodes well for the freshly-appointed 46-year-old, whose arrival was met with external scrutiny.

The Sky Blues will likely value their chances at heading into Christmas with two consecutive victories, with a trip to 22nd-placed Portsmouth on the agenda for Saturday afternoon's lunchtime kick-off. However, Coventry and Lampard will be without Wright's services once again, with the USA international yet to return to first-team training after suffering an ankle ligament injury in the 2-2 draw at Sunderland last month.

Frank Lampard's Coventry City, Haji Wright injury update ahead of Portsmouth FC

Coventry have a largely clean bill of health ahead of the festive period, with experienced goalkeeper Ben Wilson representing the only other confirmed absentee in Lampard's first-team squad at this moment in time.

Wright's absence, however, has been felt irrespective of Coventry's relative upturn, and the versatile forward remains his side's leading scorer with seven strikes from 15 appearances this term despite missing their last six outings. Lampard has confirmed he's not going to be in contention to feature in any of Coventry's three upcoming matches, as he bids to return to training first.

Lampard told the press: "In terms of do we expect him back in the next two or three games? No, because he’s not on the training pitch yet. So that’s one where we will have to wait and see.

"I am obviously very keen to get him back because I understand his importance to the squad. He’s a big player for us but I just have to work with what we have got now.

"We have got talent, we have got options so let’s try and get results, and Haji will be there soon for us as well, but as for these next two or three games, no."

Haji Wright injury is a blow to Coventry City and Frank Lampard

While Lampard will likely be relatively pleased with his introduction in the West Midlands, there's no denying Coventry are a much more potent side when they can call upon Wright and that's going to be a source of frustration.

The 26-year-old, who is most at home wide-left in a front three but can also play centrally, directly contributed to 26 goals across all competitions last time out and took that goalscoring form over into the current campaign before his injury.

Given that both Ellis Simms and Brandon Thomas-Asante have failed to liftoff in front of goal for Coventry thus far this term, Wright's importance to the side is even more prominent, and they need him back and firing on all cylinders as soon as possible.

The silver lining for Lampard is that Ephron Mason-Clarke, who joined permanently this summer from Peterborough United but struggled for form under Robins, has been red-hot since his appointment and that naturally eases Wright's absence, but having them both in the side together could help the team to new heights.