Chelsea manager Frank Lampard has said that Arsenal has a “class manager” in Mikel Arteta and no one should judge the Gunners at face value.
The Blues picked up their seventh win of the season on Monday to move up to fifth in the Premier League standings. Chelsea defeated London rivals West Ham 3-0 at Stamford Bridge.
As a result, Chelsea came back from successive defeats against Everton and Wolves to close the gap on first-placed Liverpool to six points. The side will now take on Arsenal in the Premier League.
“We’ve been in decent form in London derbies but I don’t think we should be taking Arsenal at face value. With Arsenal, I see a team of great quality, a class manager who are in a tough moment,” Goal.com quoted Lampard as saying.
“That’s a really dangerous combination to go against, so we have to prepare right. The league is so tough and we are seeing results every week that might surprise some. It’s hard for most teams to sustain results that might be expected in different seasons and there’s a combination of reasons for that,” he added.
Chelsea will next take on Arsenal in the Premier League on Saturday.
“It can be tough playing your rivals. They’re all very challenging games, we saw that on Monday, with West Ham and obviously Michail Antonio not being around changed the element of it slightly,” said Lampard.
