Lampard: we must win

13 April 2012

Frank Lampard has spelt out the importance of Chelsea's Barclaycard Premiership clash with leaders Arsenal on Saturday by admitting: 'We need to win to stay in the race for the title.'

The Blues will go into the Stamford Bridge showdown looking to avenge last weekend's 2-1 FA Cup defeat at the hands of Arsene Wenger's side.

But more importantly Lampard knows Chelsea have to start clawing back Arsenal's current six-point advantage over them and anything less than a win will leave them with a mountain to climb.

To make their task even harder Arsenal are likely to have Thierry Henry back to lead their attack after missing the cup tie through injury.

Lampard, who won his 17th England cap in yesterday's draw in Portugal, said: 'The Arsenal game is massive. It's especially a big game for us after losing to them last week.

'We need to win the league game to stay in the race for the championship. It's certainly one we cannot afford to lose. With a draw we would still be in it.

'But if we are beaten then we would be nine points behind and it would give us a hell of a gap to make up.

'Maybe it would still be possible because Arsenal have to slip up at some stage - but if we get the three points we will be right on their shoulder.

'Thierry Henry may be back and so it may seen even harder for us but we will have home advantage and we will be extra determined this week to get a result.'

Lampard knows Chelsea cannot afford a repeat of their second half fade-out in the cup encounter if they are to have any chance of smashing Arsenal's unbeaten league record.

He said: 'We stopped playing in the second half of the cup match. In the first half we worked very hard, put them under pressure and the game plan worked.

'We played the ball forward early and did not dwell on it too long in midfield and we did that well. In the second half we dropped off Arsenal and if you do that and give Arsenal time, they can do what they did to us.'

Meanwhile, Lampard believes his new Chelsea team-mate Scott Parker could soon be following him into the England squad if he maintains his current level of performances.

The former England Under-21 captain said: 'I was a bit surprised that Scott was not in the squad against Portugal because he has done really well.

'He's a good player and I'm sure he is very much in the manager's mind. If he keeps playing like he has done for us, I'm sure he will have a great chance.

'I heard the manager say the other day that he has not closed the door on the squad for the summer and people like Scott have got a chance in the next few months to prove they are good enough.'

Lampard admits the pressure is on for players to perform when they are given a chance by Sven-Goran Eriksson, especially as he has only one more match - in Sweden on March 31 - before having to announce his squad for Euro 2004.

He added: 'Everyone knows the situation. Everyone wants to impress. People might get 45 minutes and they are eager to show what they can do - but it is not always easy to do that in 45 minutes.'

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