Lampard ‘wants more’ as Chelsea boost top-4 bid

LONDON — Chelsea manager Frank Lampard says he “wants more” from his team, but it “can wait” as their pursuit to secure a Champions League spot was given a boost by a narrow victory over relegated Norwich on Tuesday.

Striker Olivier Giroud guided a header past Tim Krul on the stroke of halftime after Christian Pulisic created space for the cross on the right.

The Chelsea pair almost combined again in the second half but Pulisic could not guide Giroud’s chipped ball past Krul.

Victory strengthens Chelsea’s hold on third place in the Premier League, where they sit four points above Leicester and Manchester United, who both play today.

“At this stage of the season results are critical and we didn’t concede any chances of note to let them score,” Lampard told Sky Sports.

“Where we are at as a team and where we are in the table, it is all about the result.”

Norwich, who were relegated following a 4-0 thrashing by West Ham on Saturday, failed to record a shot on target during the match.

But Lampard said his team “can improve” despite showing “a bit more personality in our game”.

“We need to move the ball quicker and be more mobile with our rotations,” he added.

“We have done it in parts this season but if we want to move on, it needs to be better. But I don’t want to be too critical after a win.

“We didn’t give them anything to worry us. We had 10-15 minutes in the second half where we were slow and I didn’t like it, but after that, we got it back.”

Meanwhile, Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says he will not rest key players for Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea, with his focus solely on their upcoming Premier League clash against Crystal Palace. United, with 59 points, are behind Leicester City on goal difference and travel to Palace today looking to stay in the hunt for Champions League qualification.

“The team selection for Thursday is based on Thursday not Sunday. Sunday is irrelevant, it does not come into my head at all,” Solskjaer told a virtual news conference on Wednesday.

“There were a couple of doubts before the Southampton game but they all reported fit on the day and hopefully we can give them time now not to leave players out because of injury, but there might be one or two fresh legs coming in.”

United could be short on defensive options, with left backs Luke Shaw and Brandon Williams in a race against time to be fit.

Shaw twisted his ankle during the 2-2 draw against Southampton on Monday, while his replacement Williams suffered a head injury after colliding with Kyle Walker-Peters.

“Luke has got a swollen ankle, I’ll give him as much time as possible to recover, it was a twisted ankle. Brandon cut up his eye. I don’t really know, neither of them trained yesterday,” the United manager said.

Anthony Martial is in the midst of a purple patch, scoring five goals in seven games in all competitions since the season’s restart and Solskjaer was delighted with the France forward’s development.

“He’s definitely improving and enjoying his football, he’s stepped it up this season as an individual and more as a team player, and physically,” he said.

“I remember there were talks about our forwards last season being the least active and there were stats flying around but Anthony is now working really hard for the team and he is a quality, quality finisher.”