January 2021

Frank Lampard can help turn around Chelsea's poor run of results in the Premier League by being level-headed and demonstrating "fighting spirit", according to the club's former manager Avram Grant.

Expectations were high at the start of Chelsea's 2020/21 campaign after in excess of £200m was spent on transfer window acquisitions, including Timo Werner, Kai Havertz and Hakim Ziyech, but Lampard's position has come under increasing pressure with a 3-1 home defeat against Manchester City constituting their fifth Premier League loss of the season so far.

Grant, who led the Blues to the 2008 Champions League final during his one-season spell as manager at Stamford Bridge, says Lampard's squad has enough quality to improve on their current performances which have seen them slip to ninth in the Premier League table.

Chelsea host Morecambe in the FA Cup third round on Sunday before a west London derby against Fulham on January 15, live on Sky Sports.

"About the current situation I can say only this. You need to be strong when things are not going well, when things are going well everyone is a genius and knows what to do," Grant said in an Instagram post.

"But in the situation like this when things aren't going well you need to be strong, look for solutions and show a lot about your character."

During the 2007/08 campaign when Grant was manager, Lampard scored 20 goals in 40 appearances for Chelsea in all competitions, and Grant has urged his former player to demonstrate the same ability and attitude in the dugout as he did on the pitch that season.

Grant added: "What I can say to Frank and the others at the club is be patient, and more than this do whatever is necessary to do that's for sure. Two things: never lost it even when things are going well, don't lose your fighting spirit at the highest level.

"And second, don't lose what you have here [points at head] you need to think right and look for solutions. If you do that then everything will be okay because the quality is there and there is a potential like there was [at Chelsea] in my time."

After goals from City's Ilkay Gundogan, Phil Foden and Kevin De Bruyne condemned the Blues to their latest setback in the top flight, Sky Sports pundits Roy Keane, Graeme Souness and Micah Richards stated that Lampard might not be given the time he thinks he needs to succeed as a manager at the club where he won three Premier League titles as a player.

Following the defeat against Pep Guardiola's side, Lampard admitted that there would be periods of "pain" this season during a period of transition because of changes to his squad and circumstances with Covid-19, despite Chelsea being tipped as favourites for the title prior to the start of the campaign.

He said: "The reality is that one month ago and at the beginning of the season there was talk over whether we could win the league, but I was pretty sure of the fact of where we were at in terms of the ban and the rebuild and the youth. I knew there would be periods of pain we would go through as a club."