Lampard fumes over ‘lazy’ Chelsea; Arteta says win a turning point for Arsenal

An angry Frank Lampard ripped into his Chelsea players, calling them “lazy” after slipping to defeat at Arsenal, whose season starts here according to Mikel Arteta.

“It’s not tactics or systems, it’s whether you want to run, back your team-mate up, sprint, or jog? And say ‘maybe I don’t have to run’ – we took that decision instead of the right one,” Lampard says.

Lampard feels his Chelsea side ere not at their best as they lost 3-1 to London rivals Arsenal on Boxing Day

Chelsea travelled to the Emirates Stadium looking to boost their title credentials but were outclassed in every department as a youthful Arsenal ended their seven-game wait for a Premier League victory.

“I am angry because I want us to win games,” Lampard told Sky Sports. “It was an opportunity to go second against a team that are having a tough time. You either make it difficult for them or you give them a little opening and we did that from minute one and continued for 45 minutes. It was lazy to give away a penalty and lazy to give away a free-kick that he puts in the top corner.

Arsenal climb up to 14th after their first league win since November 1, eight adrift of Chelsea who drop a place to sixth and missed the chance to move second in the table after a third consecutive away defeat.

Lampard continued: “It wasn’t good enough. We fought in the second half but in the first half we gave ourselves too much to do. The players who came on added speed energy and intensity.

“I’ll take responsibility on the outside but the players also have to take responsibility. The message was clear – Arsenal are a dangerous team. When you go out and play 60 or 70 per cent then you’re not going to win any Premier League games.

“I’m very disappointed how we approached the first half, it’s not tactics or systems, it’s whether you want to run, back your team-mate up, sprint, or jog? And say ‘maybe I don’t have to run’ – we took that decision instead of the right one.”