Lampard Relishing Early Liverpool Test

The midfielder has earmarked his side's visit to Merseyside on Saturday August 18 as one of the early highlights of the new league season.

Chelsea were twice beaten in front of the Kop during the second half of last season and the England midfielder is happy to be coming up against Steven Gerrard’s men so soon this time around.

"The two fixtures that really stand out in the first few weeks are the ones at Liverpool and United," he said.

"It's quite simple. If you're serious about winning the championship then those are the games you have to get results in and so we know what's ahead.

"We played very well in the second half at Old Trafford last season – some of the best football we played all season.

"It was a different story at Liverpool, when it seemed that we were caught cold and lost early goals.

"But Liverpool have had a habit of gaining momentum later in the season this past couple of years so. Maybe playing them in the third match could be a good time."

Blues ready to offload £10m SWP

Roman Abramovich's wallet has been closed to the Portuguese coach, who has added three new players to his playing pool in the form of Claudio Pizarro, Steve Sidwell and Tal Ben Haim - but all on free transfers.

Mourinho already has a headache over who to select in midfield, with the likes of Michael Ballack, Frank Lampard, Arjen Robben, Michael Essien and Jon Obi Mikel battling for starting roles.

The Blues boss knows Wright-Phillips has a number of admirers willing to meet the club's asking price, with West Ham, Aston Villa, Tottenham, Liverpool, Newcastle and his former employers City all set to vye for his signature.

Liverpool Failed To Strike Deal, Reveals Alves

The Reds declared yesterday that they were pulling out of the race to sign Alves, just as reports of a massive bid from Chelsea broke.


It was being speculated that Liverpool had been priced out, and Alves has confirmed that the Reds were unable to agree upon a price with Sevilla.

He then went on to express his admiration for Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard, also insisting that he was keeping his mind on Sevilla's title challenge for the moment.

Chelsea have supposedly taken the lead after tabling a straight cash offer worth 24 million euros, leaving both Milan (20 million) and Real Madrid (cash + Baptista) in their wake, at least for now.

Lampard 'big enough' to cope with the boo-boys

It was one of those strange anomalies of English football on Friday at Wembley that the moronic elements of England's support managed to be respectful during the Brazilian national anthem but could not resist booing Frank Lampard. New stadium, same old problems. He is not the first Englishman to be jeered by his own fans in the last two seasons but Lampard might be wondering what exactly he has to do to turn around this old grudge.

After the match he did not seem like a man racked with hurt. That is not Lampard's way. He is, by his own admission, the stubborn type, steadfastly confident in his ability to turn things around. He did so with the West Ham fans who made life difficult for him there and on Friday he put in a performance that drew praise from an unimpeachable source. Dunga, the Brazil manager, described Lampard and Steven Gerrard as the "engines" of the England team, even if they had to spend the evening in the shadow of the man on the right wing.

Officially that means that any move now by Lampard to buy out his contract would probably earn him a nominal ban when he joined his new club. Unofficially it is further evidence that the 28-year-old will be staying put, although after Friday's experience he will probably be considering a good holiday after Wednesday's match.

He is not the first England player to be booed by his own fans, although Peter Crouch and Owen Hargreaves were given much rougher treatment than Beckham ever experienced. The issue for Lampard next season will be whether he keeps his place, with Hargreaves fit and playing at Manchester United and Steve McClaren presumably committed to playing 4-4-2, with Gerrard and one other in the centre. Before then there is the small matter of Estonia, a side with no goal in six defeats so far. Were things to go wrong it would be one of the biggest embarrassments in the history of the England team.

The pairing of Lampard with Gerrard against Brazil may have looked to be inviting disaster - no holding midfielder to look after Kaka - but it worked up to a point, with the Liverpool man playing a more defensive role. The debate over the compatibility of these two players has gone on so long that new evidence is always to be welcomed, but it will have to withstand a few more tests before Hargreaves can again consider himself surplus to requirements.