Frank Lampard played down any suggestion of a title challenge for Chelsea after they recorded a sixth successive Premier League win against Crystal Palace on Saturday.
The Blues leapfrogged reigning champions Manchester City in the top-flight standings by beating the Eagles 2-0 at Stamford Bridge, with Tammy Abraham and Christian Pulisic grabbing the goals.
Abraham’s tidy finish opened the scoring in the 52nd minute, before Pulisic made sure of all three points with a powerful header 10 minutes from time.
Chelsea are now only five points behind league leaders Liverpool, who host City at Anfield on Sunday afternoon.
Lampard is not thinking about a tilt at the Premier League crown yet though, with it his belief that there is still a gap in quality between his side and last season’s top two.
“We’re just happy with what we’re doing,” the 42-year-old told BT Sport post-match.
“We’re working hard. It’s great to go into the international break off the back of that.
“At the start of the weekend, we can sit back a little bit now and watch the other games, and we respect where Liverpool and Manchester City are, and that was the gap to try and bridge in some way going into this season.
“At the minute we’re staying close and we’re on good form. I was a little bit frustrated [at half-time]. We allowed the tempo to drop through the half.
“We started pretty well, if we get the early goal it feels a different game but, as the game went on, it became a bit broken, we were a bit slow with throw-ins, and re-taking free kicks, forward passes and I just felt if we increased the tempo the game was there to win. The players went out and did that.”
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COMMENTS
Dressing room management ability of this guy is great, he’s got a nice personality and he’s loved by people around him. No one expected Chelsea at this position by now with respect to several odds against the team but all thanks to the collective efforts of the fans, young lads, manager and his staffs. Chelsea and Leicester are underdogs in the title race but could come up with surprises going forward.