Chelsea boss Frank Lampard makes Bruno Fernandes claim as Man Utd seek top-four spot

Chelsea boss Frank Lampard thinks Manchester United are a threat to the Blues securing a top-four finish in the Premier League this season because of the impact Bruno Fernandes has had since his arrival at Old Trafford.

The Blues’ manager made the comments after seeing his side secure a 4-0 win over Everton on Sunday.

Chelsea are currently fourth in the table but United, who beat neighbours Manchester City 2-0 yesterday, are only three points behind them.

United signed Fernandes from Sporting Lisbon in the January window for an initial fee of £47million (€55m) and the Portugal international has hit the ground running.

The 25-year-old already had three goals and three assists in just eight appearances for the Red Devils, with one of those assists coming against City on Sunday.

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And while Lampard sees a United side with Fernandes as a threat to them securing Champions League football next season, he admitted there are also other teams in the hunt too.

“It can change very quickly [being in the top four] as it has this season,” Lampard said.

“We can’t look around too much, we just have to worry about ourselves.

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“We have to keep ramming home the point that we’re in the driving seat in terms of fourth position but it means nothing if we take our foot off the accelerator and after the last two performances, we have a little template that we need to carry on with.

“There’s still a long way to go. Manchester United are in great form, their acquisitions in January have given them a nice spring in their step so they’re going to challenge but so are quite a few teams.

“Even if it looks like a small cushion, I don’t feel that way.

“I feel like we need to focus on ourselves and get ourselves right and fight to the end for it.”

Lampard admitted that he is still trying to find a solution to his side’s inconsistency this season and with nine games remaining the Chelsea manager refused to back his side as favourites to secure fourth place in the table.

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“It’s in our hands and when I described us as underdogs, I was looking at it in the big scheme with quite a few games to go and points to fight for,” Lampard added.

“I’m not going to jump in and say we’re favourites [for fourth] because there is a lot of work to be done.

“At times, we’ve had inconsistencies for different reasons and we have to fight against that ourselves and hope we can get enough points.

“I don’t know whether we’re underdogs or not but it certainly doesn’t feel like we’re favourites because there’s too far to go.”

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