Lamps: Standards have dropped

GOAL hero Frank Lampard admits Chelsea can only blame themselves for slipping out of the Premier League title race after claiming they have “dropped their standards” in recent weeks.

The veteran midfielder also warned it is vital the Blues retain the team spirit built during a decade of success if they are to remain a major force and challenge again for honours.

Lampard arrested a slump which saw Chelsea take just three points in four games in December when netting a last gasp winner at Wolves on Monday — his ninth goal of the campaign.

It moved Chelsea back into the top four after Arsenal’s defeat against Fulham.

Lampard said: “If you don’t play well enough then you don’t get results. It’s difficult now. You saw Blackburn against (Manchester) United, Sunderland against (Manchester) City.

“Teams aren’t mugs. They’re all set up very well and, if you’re not at your very best, you won’t win games.

“The brutal fact is that we haven’t been at our best since the renaissance of beating Valencia, in the Champions League, and Manchester City — good performances against top teams.

“But we dropped our standards again.”

When asked for the reasons behind the slump, Lampard said: “It’s a mixture of things. Once you lose little bits, and get a couple of bad results, trying to turn that corner becomes even harder.

“Sometimes it takes a result like this against Wolves but we must carry on from here and keep that winning mentality, that fight and that desire.

“You saw that when the tackles were flying in during the first half. We stayed with it and we got what we deserved.”

There has been speculation suggesting Chelsea’s players have been questioning Andre Villas-Boas management style.

But Lampard said: “The team spirit’s okay, I just think that when you’re losing games it’s the first thing people look at.

“That takes the big players in the dressing room and everyone collectively to stand up and make a difference which I think we did against Wolves.

“That has to be there. It’s something we’ve prided ourselves on at Chelsea for many years. It won us titles and won us a lot of things.

“It’s something we can’t lose. If you do lose that, then you can’t be at the top.

“People have envied what we have got and, when you have that, you have a chance of winning things.”

Meanwhile captain John Terry has insisted he is totally behind Villas-Boas and has denied reports of dressing room unrest at Stamford Bridge.

Villas-Boas, 34, arrived in west London this summer with a reputation as the best young manager in the world but he has already written off his team’s title chances after an erratic first half of the season left the Blues eight points off the top of the table having played at least one more game than each of their rivals.

There have been reports that the senior players at Chelsea have become unhappy with the manager’s tactics, and both Nicolas Anelka and Alex demanded transfers.

Rumours of acrimony between Terry and Villas-Boas were fuelled on Monday when the Blues skipper appeared reluctant to celebrate with Villas-Boas and the rest of the team following Ramires’ opener at Molineux.

Terry denies he snubbed the chance to join in the show of unity, however, and insists he has no problem with his manager.

“I want to make it clear I’m 100% behind the manager,” Terry said. “There are no problems behind the scenes

“The manager has made it clear the players who want to stay here will be here and the ones who don’t can move on. I have seen on the news today that people are saying I didn’t celebrate with the manager for the first goal against Wolves but I did.

“I ran over there and I was worried that Wolves were about to restart and take the kick-off and catch us on the break while we were celebrating. I had a quick celebration with him then after the game as well.”

Terry thinks rumours of dressing room unrest have come as a result of Chelsea’s poor run of form.

“From a results point of view we have been giving people an opportunity to write stuff. People tend to look at it a lot deeper than it is,” he added.

“At the same time we need to be winning a lot more which I’m confident we will do.

“Roman [Abramovich] is fully behind him, the club as well, and he is making these changes, not for the short term but for the long term as well. He is going to be the man in charge and we all have to respect his decisions. He has been very up front with all of us so we can’t argue with what he’s done.”