Ahead of Tottenham coming up against Chelsea this Sunday, Frank Lampard has spoken on the extra incentive for both managers when they meet at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
It is destined to be an early Christmas treat. The two London rivals will go into the game knowing that a victory would cement their club within the top four for Christmas.
Upon the arrival of Jose Mourinho at Spurs, the club were languishing in fourteenth place. However, a domestic run of four wins out of five has seen the side close the gap on Chelsea from 12 to just three points. As for Chelsea, Frank Lampard’s youthful team have lost four out of their last five.
Despite this, when the two managers met last season, it was Lampard who ended up victorious. With Mourinho at Manchester United and Lampard at Derby County, Frank’s side knocked the Red Devils our on penalties at Old Trafford in the Carabao Cup.
Speaking to the press today, Lampard had this to say on facing his old manager (Metro):
“I think it will be special. I think it will make a difference to me, I think it will make a difference to him.
“We’re both professionals, we’re driven, and sometimes when you come across someone you worked with or a club that you worked with, it pushes you on that little bit more in the best possible way.
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“And it’s Tottenham-Chelsea, that game has enough anyway. And then you have Jose Mourinho there. And he’s going to be desperate to beat us, let’s make no bones.”
On whether it would mean more to beat Jose, he added: “In my professional head, yes. I want to go up against the best.
“When I’ve gone up against Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp this season, of course, you want to say, ‘Can I show against these incredible managers what I can do, what my team can do?’ So it will be a similar feeling.”
On whether he was surprised to see Mourinho take the Spurs job, Lampard said: “Yes and no. I mean, this is football. He’s a man for a big club. I think it’s massively interesting for the Premier League.
“I think his personality – and his record – is something that needs to be in top-level football. So having Jose back is obviously going to mix it right up in the Premier League.
“We know the record that Jose has as a winning manager, he’s won wherever he’s been. He’s come into a club, and a squad, that were probably tipped to be somewhere in the title race at the beginning of the season.
“They had a difficult start, but they still have those players. So with the freshness of Jose Mourinho, of course, they’re going to be challengers for sure for the top four.”
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