Leeds play host to Derby on Friday evening in the Championship.
Frank Lampard has told Derby County’s official website that he believes he knows how to beat Leeds United, but has the utmost respect for Marcelo Bielsa’s side.
Leeds play host to Derby on Friday night in the Championship, with Bielsa’s men at the top of the table while Derby remain in the running for promotion. They sit in sixth in Lampard’s first season as a manager, but four points above seventh.
The Whites have lost their last three matches on the trot, suffering defeats to Hull City, Nottingham Forest and then QPR in the FA Cup – though the latter was with a much-changed side.
Lampard believes his Derby side have got to be at their best to beat the Championship leaders come Friday night, but is confident that he knows what his Derby side have to do in order to win the match.
“They have lost a few games recently so they will be fairly wounded. It will be a tough match for us,” Lampard said. “We will have to go there absolutely at it across the pitch, try and bring our quality but more than that.
“We will have a fighting spirit, a passion and desire to do everything we can do to get a result there. You can’t go to Leeds and expect a result without anything other than that high energy, full pelt performance. We need to take it to Leeds.
“It’s going to be a tough game, they are all important for us now. We go into the second half of the season knowing where we are at. We have to fight to try and stay in the position that we are in or get higher and that fight is every week.”
Leeds annihilated Derby with a 4-1 win at Pride Park last time the two sides met, with Kemar Roofe scoring a brace while Mateusz Klich and Gjanni Alioski also got their names on the scoresheet.
A win for Leeds could see them stretch their lead at the top of the table to five points, if Norwich fail to beat West Bromwich Albion away from home on Saturday lunchtime.
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