Coventry City have Taiwo Awoniyi available to face Tottenham Hotspur on Monday night after the striker completed his three-match ban.
The Nigeria international returns to a Sky Blues squad boosted by victories over Nottingham Forest and Newcastle United in an absence enforced by his red card against Brighton.
Whether he comes straight back into the Sky Blues' team or not is a different matter with Sidiki Cherif scoring a goal and winning a penalty on an outstanding full Premier League debut.
Speaking ahead of the trip to north London, Lampard was asked about the balance between rewarding the 19-year-old and an instant recall for the more established front-man: "Ellis [Simms] as well, this is what it [the squad] is there for. It's good competition in a critical area of the pitch.
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"If you want to try and do well in this league or stay in this league and progress in this league, you have to be able to have strikers that can do the all-round striker job but also score your goals.
“You need with the rigours of this league to push each other, back each other and be there [when called upon], there’s nothing better.
“T has missed his three games, he's back in, we bought him for a reason. I think he was doing pretty well before the red card and missing the games.
“And now you see Ellis and Sidi playing with confidence and it was great for Sidi specifically because it was his full league debut and to play as he did and score as he did and see him smile afterwards and the confidence that it will give him is great. Good competition up there.”
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