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Sports News of Monday, 30 December 2019

Source: Sports24

Fierce halftime talk instrumental to comeback against Arsenal - Lampard

Chelsea coach, Frank Lampard Chelsea coach, Frank Lampard

After a hard-fought victory against London rivals Arsenal, Chelsea's coach, Frank Lampard has revealed that fierce halftime talk was crucial to the comeback.

Chelsea were a goal down for most part of the game courtesy a Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's early goal but would later win with goals from Jorgihno in the 83rd minute and Tammy Abraham late in the second half, four minutes after the equalizer.

"We were so awful for 30 minutes, slow lethargic, nervous. The second half was nothing to do with tactics it was all to do with spirit and desire," Lampard said.

"From my point of view you can accept a missed pass but you can't accept lethargy in a London derby. The players were told that and they delivered.

"I said my piece and it was pretty firm. You can't come here and have nothing about you. We are Chelsea, we can't just roll up.

"The lads started talking and it was a bit aggressive, which was a good thing.

"We made the change and it got better. We controlled everything in the second half, the fight and desire was there."

Rocked by a dismal Boxing Day home defeat against Southampton, Lampard had questioned himself and his players.

He urged them to use this victory, which came a week after their impressive success at Tottenham, as the springboard for a more consistent run.

"The thing at the moment is you do worry if we are going to score. We needed a mistake to score and that gave us the confidence," he said.

"It will only be a turning point if we show it going forward. We won at Tottenham playing great football and today we showed some fight. If we can put the two together we will have something."