Lampard urges Chelsea to focus on immediate battles

FRANK Lampard has told his Chelsea players to forget the Premier League title race and fight their way back into the top-four battle.

The Blues boss hailed second-placed Leicester as genuine title contenders ahead of Chelsea’s trip to the King Power Stadium this evening.

The former Chelsea and England midfielder admitted, however, that the Blues can ill-afford to dream of their own title challenge, given they sit eight points off the top down in seventh place.

“We can’t consider too much the race as it stands, instead we have to consider ourselves — consider can we get a result against Leicester, who are a competitor up there,” said Lampard.

“And then see can we get wins together that will propel us back up to where we want to be.

“But the race is relatively open, especially in comparison to recent years I suppose.

“Leicester are in the race for sure, the way they are playing and the results they’re getting and their position in the league.

“We managed to get above Leicester at the back-end of last season, but it was a big ask for us.

“They are a very good team with very good individuals, we know that, and a really good manager in Brendan Rodgers.

“So they’re in the race, and there are others that are in the race too.”

Chelsea ground out a 1-0 victory at 10-man Fulham on Saturday night for just their second win in seven Premier League matches.

Lampard hopes the manner of that battling triumph can boost confidence and set his side back on a winning run that would in turn ease pressure on his position.

But asked whether Chelsea can force their way back into the title picture, the 42-year-old insisted it is too early to tell.

“The reason I say about the title race is because I don’t want to look that far ahead,” said Lampard. “There is no reason to say whether we will get back into it or not at the moment.

“We just need to consider the games in front of us and try to win them, to push ourselves steadily up the table.”

Blues midfielder Danny Drinkwater has, meanwhile, joined Turkish club Kasimpasa on loan until the end of the season, with defender Fikayo Tomori understood to be edging closer to a temporary switch to AC Milan.