Lampard says fortunate Chelsea aiming for top eight this season

Lampard says fortunate Chelsea aiming for top eight this season

Ayoola Kelechi 23:26 - 05.05.2023

Chelsea’s Frank Lampard has asked the club not to focus on the disappointment of this season, calling on the team to end the season as well as possible

Chelsea’s caretaker manager has set a new target for the club to reach despite their abysmal 2022/23 Premier League campaign, saying the team needs to work towards making improvements on their current position.

Chelsea suffering historically poor season

Chelsea are currently undergoing one of the worst seasons in the club’s recent history, sitting 12th in the Premier League table, needing at least one more point to be certain of avoiding relegation.

The Blues have lost 14 games in the Premier League after 33 games, including all four games under Lampard, but the Chelsea legend says the losses and current position do not hurt him, as he and the fans have been lucky to live many great moments in recent years.

var widgetLoaderConfig = widgetLoaderConfig || { CDN_URL: 'https://widgets.sportal365.com', APP_LINK: 'desktop', API_URL: 'https://africa.football.api.sportal365.com/', API_KEY: '2f852b4de2f3a5cf3188e74b33087bb4:2c18422f8e826a7d11aeed52edb2449e', LANG: 'en', REQUEST_INTERVAL: 30, ENABLE_BET_SLIP: false, AUTHOR: false, THEME: "light", TOURNAMENT_ORDER: "pulse_nigeria", LINK_OPTIONS_V2: { 'player' : { 'url': '/football/player/{playerId}' }, 'team' : { 'url': '/football/{teamId}' }, 'tournament': { 'url': '/football/competition/{tournamentId}' }, 'match': { 'url' : '/football/match/{matchId}', 'sort': { 'criteria': 'alphabetically', 'direction': 'asc' } }, 'configuration': { 'newWindow': false }, 'standings_tournament': { 'url': '/football/competition/{tournamentId}/standings' } } }; if (!document.querySelector('script[src="https://widgets.sportal365.com/loader.bundle.min.js"]')) { window.setTimeout(function () { let scriptCss = document.createElement('link'); scriptCss.href = 'https://www.pulsesports.co.ke/css/sport-widgets.css?v=1668785443'; scriptCss.rel = 'stylesheet'; scriptCss.type = 'text/css'; document.body.appendChild(scriptCss); let scriptTag = document.createElement('script'); scriptTag.src = 'https://widgets.sportal365.com/loader.bundle.min.js'; scriptTag.defer = true; scriptTag.onload = function () { window.setTimeout(function () { new SMPWidgetsLoader(widgetLoaderConfig); }, 200); }; document.head.appendChild(scriptTag); }, 0); } else { new SMPWidgetsLoader(widgetLoaderConfig); }

Speaking ahead of Chelsea’s Premier League game against Bournemouth, Lampard said, "I'm not hurting. It might be me but I've been part of this club through big success so when you see the highs and lows of sport, any sport can give you moments of adversity.

"I think we at Chelsea have been pretty fortunate for 20 years.

Lampard says Chelsea need to look forward not behind

The former Chelsea midfielder also said it was unnecessary to feel hurt by the team’s current struggles, noting that the club needed to find solutions to the crucial problems plaguing it.

"It's not one for me personally to sit on and feel hurt by too much,” Lampard said, continuing, “[think] more what's the action that gets you out of it.

var widgetLoaderConfig = widgetLoaderConfig || { CDN_URL: 'https://widgets.sportal365.com', APP_LINK: 'desktop', API_URL: 'https://africa.football.api.sportal365.com/', API_KEY: '2f852b4de2f3a5cf3188e74b33087bb4:2c18422f8e826a7d11aeed52edb2449e', LANG: 'en', REQUEST_INTERVAL: 30, ENABLE_BET_SLIP: false, AUTHOR: false, THEME: "light", TOURNAMENT_ORDER: "pulse_nigeria", LINK_OPTIONS_V2: { 'player' : { 'url': '/football/player/{playerId}' }, 'team' : { 'url': '/football/{teamId}' }, 'tournament': { 'url': '/football/competition/{tournamentId}' }, 'match': { 'url' : '/football/match/{matchId}', 'sort': { 'criteria': 'alphabetically', 'direction': 'asc' } }, 'configuration': { 'newWindow': false }, 'standings_tournament': { 'url': '/football/competition/{tournamentId}/standings' } } }; if (!document.querySelector('script[src="https://widgets.sportal365.com/loader.bundle.min.js"]')) { window.setTimeout(function () { let scriptCss = document.createElement('link'); scriptCss.href = 'https://www.pulsesports.co.ke/css/sport-widgets.css?v=1668785443'; scriptCss.rel = 'stylesheet'; scriptCss.type = 'text/css'; document.body.appendChild(scriptCss); let scriptTag = document.createElement('script'); scriptTag.src = 'https://widgets.sportal365.com/loader.bundle.min.js'; scriptTag.defer = true; scriptTag.onload = function () { window.setTimeout(function () { new SMPWidgetsLoader(widgetLoaderConfig); }, 200); }; document.head.appendChild(scriptTag); }, 0); } else { new SMPWidgetsLoader(widgetLoaderConfig); }

Lampard said further said it was important to take positive steps as the session draws to a close, asking them to see how high they can finish this season, even though the idea of European football next season was beyond the Blues’ reach.

He said, "The action this season is not going to get us in the Champions League. It's not going to get us maybe in the top eight or whatever but it'll be like the first small step.”

Chelsea play Bournemouth on Saturday, hoping to earn at least a point to take them to 40 points for the season, guaranteeing their Premier League survival this season.

Related content

Was Thomas Tuchel wrongly sacked by Chelsea?
FOOTBALL

13:15 - 05.05.2023

MYTHBUSTER Was Thomas Tuchel wrongly sacked by Chelsea?

Mythbuster is a series that critically fact-checks preconceived footballing notions and myths. This edition examines the broad antagonism that followed and still follows the Blues’ decision to give the current Bayern Munich head coach the heave-ho.