Lampard Insists on Chelsea’s Champions League Ambition

Lampard Insists on Chelsea’s Champions League Ambition

Chelsea Manager, Frank Lampard insists the decision to overturn Manchester City’s two-year Champions League ban will not affect his Chelsea players in their final three games of the Premier League season.

The Blues are currently third in the table but face a hard-fought battle with the likes of Manchester United, Leicester and Wolves for the final top-four place.

If City’s ban had been upheld, fifth place would have been good enough for Europe’s premier competition next season, but now Chelsea need fourth.

Despite that, Lampard insists the situation is in his players’ hands and they are not affected by the fate of Manchester City.

‘I was pretty neutral on it, I just listened to the verdict this morning,’ he said at his pre-Norwich press conference yesterday.

‘I genuinely don’t see beyond the games in hand, we have a few games and we want to win them and see if it gets us Champions League football. I was never pinning my hopes on [the verdict]. If we win enough games, we can get in.

‘We’re sitting third, it’s in our hands. I wouldn’t have liked the players to have thought, “oh there’s an extra place, we can relax a little bit.”‘

Chelsea go into their next game against Norwich tonight following a worrying 3-0 defeat against Sheffield United at the weekend.

Lampard’s side were soundly beaten at Bramall Lane, with David McGoldrick netting a brace for the unlikely Europa League chasers.

Against Norwich, the Blues will once again be without Ngolo Kante, but Andreas Christensen returns for selection.

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