Lampard has established respect for fresh rivalry
FRANK LAMPARD and Mikel Arteta are the fresh princes of the Premier League’s managerial circuit and ought to make natural allies despite their London rivalry.
And so it seemed as the Chelsea boss applauded the appointment of Arteta at Arsenal.
‘You don’t know until you take the chance with somebody,’ said Lampard as he prepared for today’s London derby at the Emirates Stadium. ‘Who’s to say a manager is better or worse because they are in their first year or their 50th year of management?
‘Mikel has worked under one of the greatest, if not the greatest in recent years. He was an intelligent player and now he’s worked with Pep Guardiola, so I don’t buy the “inexperienced one” label.’
Lampard – after one season at Derby in the Championship – is midway through his first season at Chelsea where a very positive start has twisted into a run of five defeats in seven Premier League games.
At 37, Arteta is a mere 10 days into the job and after a draw at Bournemouth on St Stephen’s Day is preparing for his first home game.
‘There are challenges daily,’ said 41-year-old Lampard. ‘Arteta would have seen that at Manchester City but he would have observed it more and been a big support for Guardiola. Now it’s his turn to make those decisions himself. It will be purely on Arteta and can he get Arsenal to the position they want to be in?’
One of Lampard’s first big decisions was to sell David Luiz to Arsenal. His departure enabled Fikayo Tomori to step up and the defender made his England debut last month.
‘If you look at our defenders and the emergence of Tomori, that’s obviously been a big plus for us,’ said Lampard. ‘Selling David was just a decision and while I’m here I’ll be making countless more in different ways.
‘I certainly wish David well. He was part of a Champions League winning team and played with half a hamstring in the final – I know that and I will always respect that.’