Embattled Chelsea boss Frank Lampard admits his side were beaten by the “better team” during last night’s 2-0 defeat at Leicester City, speaking to the Blues website.
While the gloom deepened in west London, the optimism is growing 100 miles north at the King Power Stadium
There’s a feeling at Leicester the remarkable Premier League title success of 2016 may not have been a once-in-a-lifetime event after all.
Last night, Brendan Rodgers’ ravenous Foxes side overtook Manchester United at the top of the table with a 2-0 victory that, if anything, flattered the visitors.
Wilfred Ndidi’s swerving, fifth-minute volley preceded another classy James Maddison finish and, if it wasn’t for some fine Edouard Mendy saves and a horror James Justin miss, Leicester would have won by three or four.
“We were beaten by the better team,” admitted Lampard, who appears to be hanging on to the job by his fingernails after a fifth defeat in eight games.
“The general theme of our performance was slower, more sluggish, lacking confidence but also lacking a bit of desire to run. That comes down to confidence at times. When a team is confident, they look like Leicester, like we did a month ago.
“They were sharper than us, they ran more than us and they showed real moments of quality. They looked like a team in form, we looked like a team out of form.”
While Maddison, Ndidi and the sumptuous Youri Tielemans dominated the midfield battle, Jonny Evans and Wesley Fofana were faultless at the back, potentially establishing themselves as the Premier League’s finest centre-half partnership along the way.
Rampaging full-backs Justin and Timothy Castagne were superb on the night too, while a special mention must go to the eternally underrated Marc Albrighton – who may be in better form now than he was during that glorious 2015/16 campaign.
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