Lampard: Chelsea have aspirations of competing with Liverpoo

10:52am on Tuesday 15th September 2020
By Martin Macdonald

Frank Lampard believes that Chelsea must have aspirations of competing with the likes of Liverpool for the Premier League title.

In Lampard's first year as Chelsea boss they were under a transfer ban, but they are making up for lost time this summer as they have spent in excess of £200m on Timo Werner, Hakim Ziyech, Kai Havertz, Thiago Silva, and Ben Chilwell.

It is, by some considerable distance, the most spent by any team in Europe this season.

With such an expensively assembled new-look squad, the former Blues midfielder feels they have to target competing at the top of the table.

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"We definitely want to close that gap to Liverpool - we have to have intentions to be up there even though it is a big ask to win [the title]," Lampard told BBC Sport.

"We are behind, it's step by step. Hopefully, we can make big strides."

Against Brighton, Chelsea looked unconvincing at times but were able to emerge with a 3-1 away victory.

Lampard wasn't expecting beautiful, free-flowing football just yet, though, as the new superstars take time to merge into the squad.

"To come to Brighton and win is a tough ask," he said.

"We've only had a few days, so I didn't expect the kind of football we want to play. We had to do some of the more difficult things - resilience, throwing yourself in front of the ball, so I'm pleased.

"We've had a lot of quarantines, a lot of players who aren't match fit. That's how this season has started. There's a lot of strain on these players and hopefully we'll get better and better."

Werner and Havertz made their Chelsea debuts against the Seasiders, but Silva, Chilwell, and Ziyech were not quite read with their first appearances in a Blues shirt expected over the coming weeks.

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