Frank Lampard disappointed with Chelsea's 'lazy' approach against Arsenal on Boxing Day

Chelsea manager Frank Lampard was gutted after his team's lackluster performance against a struggling Arsenal during their Premier League match at Emirates Stadium on Saturday where they were completely outclassed by a 3-1 margin. The 'Gunners' ensured that the 'Blues' were kept at bay right from the early stages of the game and by the time the visiting team staged a comeback,  it was too late as the match was already over by then. 

Lampard had all the reasons to be disappointed as the five-time EPL winners who were at the fifth spot prior to this clash could have made their way to the top-3 had they got the better of the home team on Saturday night.

'Lazy': Frank Lampard

"Not good enough. First half not good enough. Second half, yeah, good enough, but mountain to climb, and when you attack a game the way we did. Attack is definitely the wrong word but things like the Saka goal happen because you don’t deserve luck. We fought second half, the people that came on added speed, energy, intensity into our game, but that should be a given from the start", said Lampard while speaking to Sky Sports. 

‘And you get what you deserve. Lazy to give away a penalty. Lazy in terms of giving away a free-kick that he (Granit Xhaka) puts in the top corner. I’m very, very disappointed in the way we approached the first half, because some things in football are basics", the former English midfielder added.

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Arsenal pull off a huge upset on Boxing Day

'The Pensioners' were expected to come out all guns blazing and add three precious points to their tally during the Boxing Day clash at the Emirates Stadium but it was not to be as a determined Arsenal made the most of their home conditions and were on top of their game right from the word 'Go'. 

Frenchman Alexandre Lacazette drew first blood for the Gunners off a penalty in the 34th minute while Swiss midfielder Granit Xhaka followed it up with a free-kick in the 44th minute as the home side already had a 2-0 lead going into half time.

Nonetheless, things were no different in the second half either as English left-back Bukayo Saka succeeded in finding the back of the net for Arsenal in the 56th minute. The visiting not only had to reduce their deficit from thereon but also had to play out of their skins to even reach closer to Arsenal's scoreline which did not happen. English striker Tammy Abraham scored the lone goal for Chelsea in the 85th minute but that was just not enough and the home team started celebrating after the final whistle had blown.

The Blues now find themselves languishing at the seventh position with seven wins from 15 matches and 25 points in their tally.  Cesar Azpilicueta & Co. hardly have any time to recover from this bitter defeat as they will be hosting the sixth-placed Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge on Monday.

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