Manchester City midfielder Frank Lampard singled out the threat of England hopeful Danny Ings ahead of his side’s Premier League clash with Burnley.
City broke a two-game losing streak with an unconvincing 2-0 victory over struggling Leicester in their last game, but remain five points behind Chelsea, who also have a game in hand.
The champions now face Burnley on Saturday, against whom they drew earlier in the season despite cruising at 2-0 before half time.
“We’re all aware of Danny Ings who established himself last year by scoring goal after goal,” said Lampard.
“He’s come up and proved himself in the Premier League and is very young, too. He and Ashley Barnes were very strong against us on the day.
“Ings could definitely play for England. He’s played regularly for Burnley this season, looked sharp and scored goals and we’re not exactly flush with great forwards in England at the moment so he’s definitely given himself a chance.”
Frank Lampard was also keen to point out that Burnley would be no walk over, reminding fans of how well they played in that second half at the Etihad.
“Sometimes you have to hold your hands up – the quality they showed on the day, particularly the front two, gave us a difficult afternoon,” said the former England captain.
“Going somewhere where you’re not expected to get a result at – and then to find yourself 2-0 down at half-time – can almost be as good as game over, so fair play to them.”
Manager Manuel Pellegrini also urged his players to concentrate on Burnley – and ignore their do-or-die Champions League tie with Barcelona next week.
“It’s important for the whole squad to approach this as a difficult game,” said the 61-year-old.
“We must not think about what happened in the past in other moments or what will happen in the future in the Champions League.
“It is very important for the squad to just focus our minds on one game.”
Since their last outing, City have enjoyed a ten-day break, which means that Pellegrini will have a fully fit squad to choose from for the trip to Burnley.
“The break was very useful,” said the Chilean manager. “We played well without the result we wanted against Barcelona and Liverpool.
“After that we played against Leicester, when we didn’t play very well but earned an important victory.
“After that it was a good break for the players. We worked very well and we are going to have now two weeks without a day off thinking about the three games we must play.”
City’s transfer team were also active in the break, as Matija Nastasic converted his loan move to Schalke 04 into a permanent transfer, and the Citizens signed fellow centre back Martin Demichelis to a new contract.
“I think that Martin is a very important player for our squad,” said Pellegrini.
“He has had a very good performance last year and this year. He is experienced and an important leader, I think it is very good news for him and the club because he is happy here.”
Main image courtesy of officialburnleyfc via YouTube, with thanks.
