Lampard eager to atone for Porto loss

FRANK LAMPARD is confident that Chelsea can overcome the defeat against Porto in the Champions League to stretch their lead over Arsenal when the two clubs meet at Highbury on Sunday.

Chelsea’s 2-1 defeat by Porto on Tuesday night still hurt Lampard and his team-mates even though they had already qualified for the next phase of the competition before the hostilities began. Boss Jose Mourinho had hoped to return to the club he guided to the Champions League title last season and emerge with a victory, but two goals in the second half from Diego and Benni McCarthy ended that dream.

Yet Chelsea sit five points clear at the top of the Barclays Premiership and will increase that gap to eight if they can beat the champions on their home soil.

Lampard’s confidence is boosted by the knowledge that Arsenal will be without the driving force that is captain Patrick Vieira. He is suspended for the crucial clash and avoiding unnecessary bookings and red cards is something which Chelsea have worked on all season.

Mourinho made it clear from the start that it would not help their cause to have players missing for massive games like the one at Highbury this weekend.

Lampard said: “We’ve got an excellent disciplinary record and the manager wants us to be disciplined, to avoid silly bookings and red cards.

“We’ve got a lot of disciplined players and don’t have any problems. With big games coming up you don’t want suspensions and we’ve got to be clever to avoid them.”

Vieira’s absence will give Chelsea the upper hand in midfield where Lampard has been exceptional. It was his tenacity and drive which enabled Chelsea to overcome Newcastle at Stamford Bridge last Saturday.

Lampard scored the first and made the second for Didier Drogba in the space of five second-half minutes as Chelsea went on to win 4-0.

Now, although the Porto setback was only their second defeat of the season, Lampard says there is no reason why they should not get something from their trip to north London.

Lampard added: “We’re confident we can go there and get a result. We went on great run after losing at Manchester City and that’s what we want to do again.

“We’ve got a mentality at the club where we string wins together and will continue to do that.”

But even though Lampard admits to being angry about the Porto defeat, he is sensible enough to know that sometimes the “bigger picture” is more important.

He added: “Every defeat hurts and we’re used to winning.

“It hurts to lose, especially to a goal like that when we didn’t really fill in and had some opportunities to win the game.

“We played well in the first half especially, created lots of chances and looked like scoring goals.

“They scored in the second half but we looked like hitting them on the break. It doesn’t change the group but we wanted to win the game. We don’t like losing games and picked a strong team to win the game.

“We’re all angry after defeats including the manager but we can see the bigger picture. It doesn’t change the Champions League situation and we’ve got a more important game on Sunday.”