Frank Lampard: Carlo will turn us into winners again

Simon Johnson
14 Aug 2009

Frank Lampard today insisted the fight for the Premier League title this season will be the best yet and end up being a classic.

Manchester City are set to challenge the Big Four having spent nearly £100million on new players, while the England international feels there is already little difference between his Chelsea side and Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool.

The Blues' hopes have been boosted by the arrival of new manager Carlo Ancelotti and Lampard said: "The Premier League keeps improving every year. I'm sure the title race will be a classic this season.

"We have the added excitement of Manchester City spending money, the top teams the way they are and your Evertons, Tottenhams and Aston Villas pushing hard.

"Last year was tight for quite a long time but it's going to be good to see all the big teams challenging.

"We're going into the season with confidence. The manager has settled very quickly and we're very determined. It's nice to have continuity and to keep the same players.

"We have a very strong squad and it's probably been injuries to our key players over the last few years that have made the difference. If we can keep players fit we have a strong team."

Chelsea kick off their season with the lunchtime match against Hull City tomorrow and Didier Drogba is confident that they can wrest the Premier League trophy back from United after three years at Old Trafford.

The striker said: "Sometimes to succeed you need to be a bit more lucky and I think Manchester United had this in the last three years.

"In some games they did not play well but because they have this winning mentality, which was maybe better than us in some games, they created this little bit of luck.

"We need to go back to winning games regularly, even easy games where we think we're going to win and then we draw, as well as important games against teams like Spurs where we lost a lot of points last season.

"It is really important to go back to this mentality of winners and not be just 100 per cent concentrated, we need to be 110 or 120 per cent motivated to achieve something big.

"It is important to be ready. We are still focused on winning the League and performing well."

Meanwhile, Jose Bosingwa has admitted he has been flattered by Bayern Munich's interest in him and has not ruled out joining the German club.

The Chelsea defender said: "I won't close the door on leaving because I have to look after my own interests."