Lampard: we can take the pressure

FRANK LAMPARD insists Chelsea have learned to live with playing second fiddle to Manchester United as they look to overhaul the leaders in the Premiership title run-in.

Chelsea closed the gap on United to just three points on Wednesday night with a comfortable 4-1 win over relegation-haunted West Ham at Upton Park.

Jose Mourinho’s side will kick off at the same time or later than United between now and the end of the season and that gives the leaders a slight edge, according to Lampard.

The England midfielder, booed every time he touched the ball by the fans who once idolised him at Upton Park, said: “It has been like that for a while. The only time we played ahead of them was when they lost to Portsmouth.

“We have virtually always been the second team playing and it has been difficult. There is an added pressure when they have won but we have learned to live with that problem.

“We have to keep winning and at this stage it is so close that whether they win, lose or draw, we still have to do our thing and not take too much notice of their results.

“We are trying not to look too much at the points because we know it is tight. We know we have got to play United but we have got to keep winning. The moment we drop points it will become very tough for us.”

United’s vastly superior goal difference is virtually worth another point but Lampard says that while it is difficult to reduce, it is not impossible.

He added: “I think a scoreline like West Ham has been coming for us. We have been putting ourselves under pressure by not killing off teams and that is something we have spoken about quite a lot. I think we put that right against West Ham.

“People know we are still there and when we play good football, we will create chances. We just need to keep doing it because we have not got much room to slip up.

“We understand the goal difference and it will be very difficult to catch that up, although it is not impossible.”

Chelsea also hit out at the FA’s decision to allocate them with only 25,000 FA Cup final tickets.

The new Wembley Stadium has a capacity of 90,000 and the Stamford Bridge club are unhappy about an allocation that leaves only 50,000 of those tickets to be shared between them and opponents Manchester United.

A club statement said: “We were very disappointed to receive (such an allocation) as many regular fans will now miss a great day for both clubs.”

The FA pointed out that allocations are up by 1,500 tickets per team on the 2006 final at the Millennium Stadium.

Steve Bennett will referee the FA Cup final, assisted by Peter Kirkup and Dave Bryan. Howard Webb will act as fourth official. Bennett refereed the 2005 Carling Cup final.