Chelsea
head coach Frank Lampard wants all Premier League clubs to be competing on a
"level playing field" when it comes to having supporters in stadiums and
believes all have shown they can safely host 2,000 fans.
Despite initially being placed in tier two following the end of the UK's
second coronavirus lockdown, London could be moved into the strictest level
of restrictions this week following a sharp rise in cases.
Chelsea have been one of 10 top-flight clubs to welcome a limited number of
fans back, but will lose that right if the capital is placed in tier three.
When the tier system was announced last month, Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa,
whose team have been unable to have supporters at Elland Road, said it was
unfair to punish those in tier three.
Lampard believes having fans back does make a difference and has called on
the Government to make Premier League stadiums exempt from the current crowd
restrictions.
Asked if it would be tough to adjust to playing behind closed doors once
more, Lampard said: "If it comes in, I think it will be. I'm slightly
disappointed, even though we're in tier two and we've had fans in already, I
did feel as though it should have been a level playing field.
"We've seen already the backing that they give you and what it does for the
game.
"I'm not telling the Government what to do, but I do think we can control
2,000 fans coming in from that tier. It's unfortunate to say the least.
"Let's get it right, we are making it up as we go along. That's not to sound
critical, that's just a fact that we've never been in this position before.
"I think clubs have shown they can control it so far so I would like to have
thought that there could be something done to make it exempt."
'It's on us to bounce back'
Lampard's side travel to Wolves on Tuesday looking to bounce back from a
first league defeat in 10 matches following Saturday's 1-0 loss at Everton.
The result ended the Blues' 17-match unbeaten run in all competitions and
saw them miss out on the chance to go top of the Premier League table.
"The Premier League is unforgiving," Lampard said. "We saw that with
different results over the weekend.
"We weren't on our top level on Saturday and we got beaten, that's it.
"We've been on a really long unbeaten run, playing some really good football
as well as winning games and we dropped our level for one game. It's
absolutely on us to pick it up again straight away.
"I kept saying, when people were touting us as title contenders after the
Leeds game particularly, I felt it was a long race.
"I did it as a player and understand lots of elements of it and there are
lots of difficult moments.
"One of those is losing a game and trying to bounce back quickly. It's on us
to try and do that."
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