Lampard expects Blues challenge

10 August 2009 17:24
Frank Lampard is confident Chelsea will be among the Premier League frontrunners this season. The Blues could only muster a third-place finish in the 2008/09 campaign, with the club unable to counter the early season failings they endured under Luiz Felipe Scolari. Carlo Ancelotti will be in charge for the new campaign, though, with the Italian tactician having slipped into his post with consummate ease if the noises coming out of Stamford Bridge are to be believed. He has been relatively quiet on the transfer front, with few fresh faces brought in, but Chelsea can already boast a squad brimming with world class talent. Persuading the likes of Didier Drogba and John Terry to remain at the club has also proven to be a masterstroke, with England ace Lampard of the opinion their commitment is as good as acquiring two new players. "Didier has signed his new deal and is staying with us. He is as good a signing as you'll get anywhere, along with John Terry," Lampard said after helping Chelsea to a penalty shoot-out success over Manchester United in Sunday's Community Shield. "It was important John stayed. He's a big player for us and no one wants to lose huge players. "When Drogba plays like that (like he did on Sunday), no one wants to play against him. He's powerful, quick, strong and scores goals. He is one of the best about and still will be for a few years. "All the big players are fit and firing. I think we're ready to go and we have learned a few lessons from last year. A couple of things went wrong in mid-season and we don't want that to happen this year. "The form we showed under Guus Hiddink in the last five or six months of last season would have won us the league and more. "It showed what we can do and it is very important as players that we perform to that level, and if we do have the occasional rough patch, which every team has during the season, then we work hard and get ourselves out of it." Lampard also believes he will benefit from a new 4-4-2 system introduced under Ancelotti, with the free-scoring midfielder expecting to be among the goals once again in 2009/10. "Playing behind Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka, who make so many runs and moves, causes such a problem for the back four that you can run in behind them," he said. "People will be so worried about those two that if I make those late runs behind them then hopefully I will get the opportunities to score more. "I won't be doing tricks behind the front men, that is not the way I play. I will probably give a little more defensively to the team than other players do in that position, but at the same time I think I can create and score more than I have done in the past years. I am very happy to play there."

Source: SKY_Sports