Hammers boss Pellegrini set for reunion with City old boy Lampard in Chelsea dug-out
Frank Lampard on the bench with manager Manuel Pellegrini during his time at Manchester City (Pic: Nick Potts/PA) - Credit: PA Archive/PA Images
West Ham United manager Manuel Pellegrini will come up against one of his former players in Frank Lampard as they look to end a bad run of form this weekend.
The 66-year-old Chilean signed the midfielder for Manchester City back in 2014 but they will now come up against each other as managers the Hammers make the trip to face Lampard's Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
And the experienced Hammers boss had plenty of nice words to say about the former England International ahead of the clash.
"Frank was a pleasure to work with [at Man City]. He was a top player throughout his career," Pellegrini said.
"He likes football so everyone knew in that moment he was going to continue his career as a manager. I'm very happy for his success."
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The former Malaga manager revealed that he is sure the 41-year-old learnt from plenty of managers during his career but also felt his move to City would have opened his eyes as well.
"I think that when you want to be a manager, you must try to learn as much as you can, and during your career as a player you have different managers that manage the group in different ways and play different football.
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"In all of the ways you can win titles you must choose one of those. For Frank Lampard it was a very good experience in his career to not always be at Chelsea, he started at West Ham but most of his professional career was at Chelsea.
"To go see what was at Manchester City and another way of playing football, if that helped him improve as a manager, then I'm very happy."
West Ham will remain without goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski and Manuel Lanzini for the match while defender Issa Diop will also miss out through suspension after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season in the 3-2 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur last weekend.
Whether Fabian Balbuena comes back in or Declan Rice moves back into defence is the question, along with the real big decision about whether Roberto going to be dropped after failing to win a single game since he has been inbetween the posts.
"Of course I am concerned (his confidence is low), but it is not just about the goalkeeper," added Pellegrini. "Every time you decide your starting XI you have the complete week to work with them, the technical staff about positives and negative things."
