Chelsea
head coach Frank Lampard says he will always respect Arsenal defender David
Luiz despite making the decision to let him leave in the summer.
Luiz joined Arsenal on a two-year deal for £8m in the summer transfer window
after two spells at Chelsea.
He was also a team-mate of Lampard in the Chelsea side which won the
Champions League in 2012.
After initially dodging questions on his relationship with Luiz, Lampard
said: "Maybe I was a bit harsh not to answer [original question] directly.
What I don't want to do is make it a personal question going into a game
against a player who I respect and played with.
"If you look at our defenders and the emergence of [Fikayo] Tomori, it has
been a big plus for us.
"It was just a decision that was made and while I'm here there will be
countless more of those.
"Again, I certainly wish Luiz well. He was part of a Champions
League-winning team with me, he played with half a hamstring in the final -
I know that. He got himself fit when he was under pressure with the injury.
I will always respect that."
Lampard comes up against Mikel Arteta in his first home game as Arsenal head
coach on Sunday, live on Sky Sports Premier League.
The Chelsea boss says a large factor in his performance will be the quality
of his backroom staff, which includes Freddie Ljungberg.
"I think there are challenges daily, he would have seen that at Manchester
City but observed it more as support for Guardiola," he added.
"Now it is his turn to make those decisions themselves. The years he had
with Guardiola puts him in great stead so I don't think there is an issue
there.
"You also need good people around you and I saw Arteta has got his staff
together. He will rely on them and Guardiola relied on him, I certainly rely
on mine."
Lampard confirmed Reece James is expected to miss Sunday's game with an
ankle injury but Marcos Alonso could still play despite suffering a muscle
injury in the Boxing Day loss to Southampton.
He added: "Marcos Alonso got a small muscle injury, hopefully he will be
okay for Arsenal. Reece James probably won't, he's got an ankle injury and I
think we need to look at it for a bit longer."
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