Chelsea boss Frank Lampard insists David Luiz is not Arsenal weak link and has 'real respect' for ex-teammate

Lampard insists his former Blues teammate could play a pivotal role for Arsenal on Saturday.
Getty Images
Giuseppe Muro31 July 2020

Chelsea boss Frank Lampard insists he has huge respect for David Luiz as he prepares to come up against his one-time team-mate and the player he sold last year.

Lampard sold Luiz to Arsenal for £8million shortly after taking over as Chelsea manager and the Brazilian will hope to come back to haunt him in tomorrow’s FA Cup Final.

Luiz divides opinion but Lampard says he knows the influence the centre-back could have at Wembley.

Asked if he sees Luiz as a weak link in the Arsenal team, Lampard said: “I certainly haven’t. I have a real respect for David as a team-mate that I played with in the Champions League we won in 2012. The bond of that group was huge and David was a big personality and a top player within that.

In Pictures | Manchester United vs Chelsea, FA Cup | 19/07/2020

1/59

“When I think about preparing for a game against Arsenal with David in the team, I know how good he can be and what an influence he will have on the team. I look at him that way.”

Lampard says it is too simplistic to say winning the FA Cup would help make Chelsea title contenders next season. But he admits it would be an important stepping stone in their bid to close the gap to Liverpool and Manchester City.

Lampard said: “I do not quite see it as matter of fact as I have been asked over the last few weeks, as in if you win the FA Cup that means that all of a sudden the young players will be experienced to go on to fight for the league title.

“It is a nice boost but it will only mean something going forward if we take the boost, put it in our pocket and continue to work and improve, on the training pitch and how the club moves forward.

“I am not trying to play it down. But a good club, a top club, will compete for cups and league titles pretty much every year. We did it for a long time. At the moment we have not been able to fight for that league title. This will not mean all of a sudden we are back and in that picture. But it can be a nice small, small step when you consider where we want to get to next year.

“When you get to a final you want to win it. At this stage in my career, my first year at Chelsea, then of course I would love to do that. But predominantly for the club, the players and the world they have put in through the year.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in