Sifting through the post-match reports on Chelsea’s defeat at Barnsley brings little or no information on the injury to Frank Lampard. The midfielder missed the game with the BBC reporting a “slight injury” as the cause and Grant did confirm this in his post-match reaction to the defeat.

“I wanted them to play but they are injured so they didn’t play,” remarked Grant on the Drogba and Lampard.

But is this rather defensive comment from Grant a cover for an error judgement on his part? Lampard didn’t appear to have picked up an injury against Olympiakos on Wednesday, although he was withdrawn on 75-minutes. Perhaps Grant’s decision to leave Lampard behind was a precautionary measure or indeed, it could be that he just chose to hand him and Drogba a rest. Let’s face it, given the result, there’s little chance of Grant declaring that he made such a call.

Certainly the reports from yesterday’s game are suggesting that Grant underestimated Barnsley, intimating that Lampard and Drogba were rested rather than injured. A comment on Chelseablog.com meanwhile, remarks that Lampard was at the FA Youth Cup semi-final on Friday night having been left behind by Grant – an indication that if he is carrying an injury, it’s not a problem that has him laid low.

Looking at the positives from this situation, if Lampard is fit for Wednesday’s game against Derby, he will surely start as Grant looks to banish the Barnsely defeat from memory. They’ll be plenty of fantasy managers hoping that the midfielder leads the backlash against the Premiership’s bottom club and returns a healthy haul of points.