It’s great to be back in Prem – and we’re here to compete

Frank Lampard heads to the Emirates tonight, 

guaranteed the support of the Sky Blue Army

FRANK Lampard takes charge of his first Premier League match in three years when he leads newly-promoted Coventry City against reigning champions Arsenal tonight.

"Having been through the challenges for good and for bad in my managerial career, 

I think it puts me in a better spot."

   - Frank Lampard

21 Aug 2026 - Coventry Telegraph

By BRIAN DICK

The eyes of the world will be on the Emirates Stadium in the season curtain-raiser, a fixture that pits a Gunners team that bludgeoned its way to the title just a few months ago, against a Sky Blues side that was the cream of the Championship.

While City will be playing their first top-flight fixture in a quartercentury, their manager will be ending his own, rather shorter, absence from English football’s top table.

Lampard left nothing to prove in his magnificent playing career but it is fair to say his last Premier League match as a manager saw him end his time in interim charge of Chelsea with questions being asked. A 1-1 draw against Newcastle in May 2023 signed off a record of just one win in 11 games.

For Sky Blues fans, the 48-year-old has answered many of those doubts in the last 18 months and he says he returns to a competition he won three times with Chelsea, in a better place. “The second spell at Chelsea wasn’t great for me from a PR point, when you look at it, but it was great for me from a personal point of view,” Lampard said.

“I’ve referenced it before and I definitely don’t want to talk about Chelsea too much here because it’s my club to a big extent because of the career I had there and I will always have a big place for them.

“But going back there was an understanding of situations at a football club where the balance isn’t right, the mentality isn’t right and all those things, the little things that have to be right, standards and all those things.

“It was very difficult in a short period of time to make any impact there - but I could go away and sort of see that. I kind of knew it anyway, but I lived it for seven weeks there.

“Since then probably I’ll just reflect back on my whole managerial career and say I try and be better every day at what I do.

“I try and be better at the tactical side, try and be clearer with the players in any way possible I can, and also try and get my life balance to be as good as it can be.

“That’s a challenge, we can all pretend that we are robots, but in the modern day it’s hard to be that robot and not see or hear anything.

“But having been through the challenges for good and for bad in my managerial career, I think it puts me in a better spot to deal with, don’t get too high, don’t get too low, continue to focus on your job, and I’m better at that than I was previously.”

Lampard cut a relaxed figure in his first press conference of the 2026/27 campaign, pleased with how the Sky Blues have reinforced in the transfer market, with seven new signings and looking forward to seeing the club back in the big time.

“It was a great year for us and the celebrations were great,” he said. “It went beyond football with this city, it went to a place where a city and a football club that’s a major thing in the city has been through very, very tough times.

“It even heightened the feeling of what was achieved by the players, and we felt that in the parade and all the celebrations at the end, that’s been amazing from my point of view to be part of that.

“I’m very excited to be here and get a club that’s been out of the Premier League for 25 years back in the Premier League, but of course it’s exciting at this moment, but we want to challenge, we want to do well as well.

“Compete in every game we play, take every game as it comes, it’s cliche, but it’s also a reality of not getting too far ahead of ourselves.

“I have experience of the Premier League as well as working in the Championship, so I’ll try and get that across to the players as well.

“But I want them to go in with a lot of belief, there’s hopefully a good energy about players that haven’t played at this level that are desperate to play and deserve to be here and I’m talking players like Ephron Mason-Clark, Brandon Thomas-Asante, Matt Grimes.

“Players who spent a long, long time working in the Championship with the aim ‘Can I get to the Premier League?.’

“I think that’s a good energy for us which we have to tap into, I think everyone should feel the same and it starts at Arsenal, you can’t start with a harder place to go.”