Premier League news: Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard glad to return to action
Chelsea FC midfielder Frank Lampard is delighted about returning to first-team action after spending a long time off the field due to a hernia operation. Lampard featured in Chelsea’s thrilling 1-1 draw against Tottenham
Hotspur on Sunday, his first piece of English Premier League action since August.
It has been reported that the midfielder was not given the nod by the doctors to play on Sunday, but he persuaded Carlo Ancelotti to name him among the substitutes.
“You get used to watching games and being frustrated and having weekends off watching the lads go away,” said Lampard after the match. “It is strange and it does make you really think and appreciate even more how lucky you
are to do what you do, playing football for a living. It has been frustrating to be missing, but it is a beautiful feeling to be back.”
The 32-year-old Chelsea vice-captain revealed that he had been impatiently waiting to get back into the team to help his side retain their top position in the league. During his absence, the Blues lost their
stranglehold at the top of the table, just managing six points in their last seven league games. This poor run of form has seen them drop to fourth position, three points behind current league leaders Manchester United.
However, Lampard is confident that his side can still retain their Premier League crown, if they manage to rediscover their early-season form.
“Every season you have patches and ups and downs and hopefully this is one to get out the way early and refocus,” he said. “It is easy for me not being involved to sit back and say it has been really bad, but it is a difficult
league and we started off like a house on fire. We have had a bit of a hiccup and maybe we stopped doing the things that made us so good early in the season.”
Lampard believes that Chelsea displayed a positive performance on the weekend against the Spurs and were unlucky not to bag all three points at the end of the game.
Didier Drogba spurned the golden opportunity to give the Blues a vital victory, when he shot the injury-time penalty straight at goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes.
Chelsea will next play title-challengers and archrivals Manchester United at home at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, December 19. United are leading the title race and are still unbeaten in the league this season.
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