Tuchel insists no mercy for Lampard

Celsea manger Thomas Tuchel has yet to take Frank Lampard up on his offer of lunch and says there will be no old friends act as Chelsea seek to push Everton closer to relegation on Sunday.

The Chelsea manager received a warm welcome to the post from Lampard when he was appointed as his successor in January last year.

But despite Tuchel’s admiration for the Stamford Bridge legend, Chelsea’s desperate need for points means there will be no mercy shown when they visit struggling Everton on Sunday.

“No, we had no lunch, but he sent me a very kind, very respectful message after I took over at Chelsea and that meant a lot,” Tuchel said.

“I was a huge fan of him as a player and he is, and will remain, a legend at our club and this is absolutely a given. I was very happy when he wrote me that message and we didn’t have the chance to go out and have lunch and he took the chance to go and take charge of Everton.

“He took an assistant from us, Joe Edwards, so we will meet some friendly faces with Joey and Ashley Cole and I’m happy to finally meet Frank in person. We arrive with our team and we need the points and they need the points urgently. So, it is a very exciting week for me.

“I love to play at Old Trafford and everybody tells me about the atmosphere at Goodison Park and how emotional and tough it is to play there. We expect a tough fight.”

Meanwhile, Lampard looks to his first club, West Ham, and his uncle Harry Redknapp for inspiration as Everton battle to stay up and bid to become a proper Premier League force.

‘We understand how important it is for us to stay in the league, but no one gets a free ticket,’ said Lampard. ‘There are things I see long-term that I want to change to make the club better and I’ve had great support in that.

‘West Ham have struggled against relegation, they now have a fantastic manager and one of the best young players in the world from their academy in Declan Rice, but all these things you have to work for.’

Lampard, who is boosted by the return of England striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin from injury, spent his career at the top table but can speak to people with experience of relegation pressure.

His assistant Paul Clement was manager of Swansea when they went down and Redknapp had experience of relegation battles at Portsmouth, Southampton and West Ham.

‘The smartest managers make things sound simple,’ Lampard said. ‘Whenever I speak to Harry, it’s “What do you think about this situation because you were there with Portsmouth?”’

Lampard, 43, says he’s been through enough to cope with the pressure. ‘The play-offs at Derby were pretty stressful. I remember the first year at Chelsea, we were desperate to come fourth and it was touch and go up to the last game.

‘I understand what is on it for the club here so there is a real level of intensity for that.’

Everton have taken seven points out of nine in their last three home games under Lampard.

‘I see a group here at Everton that are really good lads trying to stay in the league,’ the manager said. 

‘We need to keep that spirit because spirit in football is a huge thing. At the minute the lads are very together and fighting together and I need to lead that.’