LAMPS OUT TO SHOW HOW FAR CHELSEA HAVE COME SINCE OPENING DAY

THE last time Chelsea faced Manchester United in the Premier League, manager Frank Lampard finished it convinced his side would make the top four. Never mind he’d just watched his team thrashed 4-0. It was quite a baptism of fire for Lampard. Opening day of the season, Old Trafford, his first game as Chelsea boss — the club where he is idolised. ‘I saw enough to suggest we could make the top four,’ said Lampard (left). ‘I saw it again in the Super Cup against

Liverpool. I said to the players after both games I felt we have enough here to have a successful season. ‘So I didn’t find it a seminal moment or think “Wow, we’ve lost 4-0”. It didn’t feel nice on the day and it would be great to correct it tomorrow.’ Even with one of the youngest squads in the Premier League, Chelsea are fourth in the table, they face Liverpool in the FA Cup fifth round and are gearing up for a Champions League last-16 clash against Bayern Munich. Lampard is not satisfied, of course. The proper test of his first campaign in charge at Stamford Bridge will come towards the end of the season. As a player, Lampard was used to finishing the job. In the race

for fourth place, victory tonight would extend Chelsea’s lead over United to nine points — surely an insurmountable gap to bridge for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team. Lampard, though, won’t be taking anything for granted. ‘Not at nine points, not with the amount of points left to play for and the way the Premier League is,’ Lampard said. ‘The landscape is tougher in terms of picking up points, as you can see from the points totals in and around ourselves. ‘This year it looks a lot different with points being taken off different teams. It’s a changing of the Premier League, slightly. Teams now can invest a lot of

money. You can be promoted to the Premier League, spend £100million and it doesn’t guarantee you success. ‘That’s the kind of challenging times that we’re talking about. Challenge is a good thing.’ Solskjaer, meanwhile, has denied that United’s deadline day signing of 30-year-old Odion Ighalo was an act of desperation. Indeed, he is open to the possibility of the Nigeria striker making his loan move permanent. Ighalo is expected to be in United’s squad to face Chelsea tonight after training with his new team-mates for the first time yesterday. United have been criticised for leaving it until the final hours of the January window to sign a player who has spent the last three years in China after leaving Watford. ‘Hopefully he’ll prove to you what I think he will. He’s a proven goalscorer so he’ll do all right,’ said Solskjaer (right). And that might see the loan from Shanghai Greenland Shenhua made permanent. ‘When you’re in the door, and if you impress, it gives you a chance,’ Solskjaer added.