PL: "We deserved a draw...," says Lampard after loss to Man City

MANCHESTER: Following his side's loss to Manchester City in their Premier League clash, Chelsea manager Frank Lampard said that his team deserved a draw and needed to show some intensity on the field.

Manchester City defeated Chelsea 1-0 at the Etihad Stadium in their Premier League clash on Sunday, celebrating their fifth title win in six seasons in style.

"We needed to show a performance today, in my opinion, with everyone watching. I thought they acquitted themselves very well today. I said to them before the game, we needed to show the intensity and show ourselves that we had a responsibility to play," said Lampard as quoted by Sky Sports.

"The first 15 minutes was frustrating because we did not play like we said we would but then we realised we could play into Enzo and Ruben, break lines and switch the play, and be brave on the ball, then the game opened up for us. We deserved a draw."

Lampard said that the quality of young players in Chelsea is good but there is work to do on them.

"It is in their hands. I cannot predict how long it will take. We do not know. It is down to the players themselves, for the club it is down to the direction they take going forward with a new coach. This Premier League is getting tougher. We have felt that this year," said Lampard.

"To get to where Man City are a lot of things need to align, so there is a lot of work to be done. There is clearly a lot of young talent in the squad. Maybe a bit of instability, maybe a bit of imbalance within the squad. So those things are club issues," concluded the coach.

Julian Alvarez netted a goal early in the game (12th minute) for City and had another ruled out for a handball by Riyad Mahrez in the build-up. Frank Lampard's struggling team had Conor Gallagher hit the post, but one goal was sufficient for City to pull ahead of the pack by seven points.

Even though Man City manager Pep Guardiola made nine changes to the team that thrashed Real Madrid on Wednesday night, City was still the club that played the smoother football. Chelsea will undoubtedly place in the bottom half of the Premier League standings at this point.

With the stadium drenched in sunlight, there was a festive atmosphere well before kickoff as the home fans revelled in the confirmation of their third consecutive title win following Arsenal's loss to Nottingham Forest on the road the previous evening.

With two games to go, City is at the top with 28 wins, four draws, four losses and a total of 88 points.

Chelsea also have two games left. They are in the 12th position with 11 wins, 10 draws and 15 losses in this season. They have a total of 43 points.