• Chelsea can become seventh side to win domestic double
• Lampard says team cannot afford to be complacent
Frank Lampard says Chelsea are intent on ruining relegated Portsmouth’s hopes of a fairytale end to their dismal season. Victory over Avram Grant’s Pompey side in the FA Cup final at Wembley tomorrow would see Chelsea become only the seventh English side ever to achieve the coveted domestic double, and Lampard is adamant they will not be complacent after winning the Premier League title last Sunday.
“We don’t want it to be a fairytale that goes all the way for Portsmouth, we have to be ruthless how we approach the game,” said Lampard. “To win the league was a huge thing for us last week. We got that job done but we knew the season wasn’t over.
“We saw Portsmouth against Tottenham in the semi-final and we’ve seen them have a very spirited end to the season, even with the difficult circumstances.”
Lampard went on to suggest that a Chelsea defeat would also be bad news for England, with several Chelsea players set to play significant roles for the national side at this summer’s World Cup in South Africa.
“What better way to go to the World Cup than having done the double,” said Lampard. “But I would hate to go there having missed out on the double. Mentally if I went away and we’d lost that would be the freshest thing in the mind and it would be horrible.
“We are determined to finish the job and it won’t be as easy as some people have made out. I also have a lot of sympathy with Portsmouth. I think they’ve handled themselves very well, particularly Avram Grant, who we know really well and have a lot of respect for.
“He’s handled himself brilliantly and everyone has seen that. It’s not been easy circumstances and everyone has taken to them a bit this year – in very adverse circumstances they have held their heads high and managed to get to Wembley.
“But the double is huge and has never been done in our history. We really want to do it. I grew up always knowing the big teams that had done the double in the 70s and 80s, so if we do it, it will go down as the best year in the club’s history.”
Lampard’s Chelsea and England team-mate Ashley Cole is bidding to become the first player to win the trophy six times. Cole’s first FA Cup final victory came with Arsenal against Chelsea in 2002 before retaining the trophy against Southampton the following year and then scoring in the 2005 penalty shootout win over Manchester United.
He then moved to Chelsea and was part of the team who defeated Manchester United in the first final at the new Wembley. Last season he won his fifth final and moved into the record books as Chelsea defeated Everton 2-1.
“It is an amazing achievement and to win it that many times would set him out as the most successful FA Cup player ever and he deserves that,” added Lampard.
ChelseaFrank LampardPortsmouthFA Cupguardian.co.uk