Lampard reacts to Chelsea’s draw at home to Leicester

Frank Lampard refused to use tiredness as an excuse after Chelsea drew 1-1 at home to Leicester City on Sunday.

The former midfielder, who played close to 650 games for the Blues, was in charge at Stamford Bridge for the first time since his summer appointment but had to settle for a point as Mason Mount’s early goal was cancelled out by Wilfred Ndidi’s second-half header.

After a 4-0 loss at Manchester United last week and a penalty shootout defeat to Liverpool in the Super Cup in midweek, Lampard is still to taste victory and, as good as their first-half display was against the Foxes, their second-half struggle highlights the size of the task he faces.

Lampard told BBC Radio 5 Live: “The first 25 minutes were fast, we had quality. We could have scored more goals and I was delighted at that start. It was up to us to keep that momentum up and we didn’t.

“We needed to keep the pressure up and we didn’t. There will always be things to work on, it’s early on in the season but we have to remember we need to get points and improve.”

On being tired from the Super Cup game: “I don’t like that as an excuse. We travelled back late on Thursday, it was a late game, it was a long flight. There might be an element of tiredness but there were also problems which we could have fixed that had nothing to do with tiredness. If we had scored when we were playing well that would have changed everything. To go 2-0 up would have caused them more problems.”