Frank Lampard couldn’t believe what ‘great’ Antonio Conte did during his Chelsea days

Everton boss Frank Lampard has waxed lyrical over Antonio Conte ahead of this weekend’s clash between Tottenham and Everton.

Tottenham have enjoyed a solid start to the season so far, sitting in third place and just four points behind rivals and leaders Arsenal. Spurs secured a top four finish last season, and they will want to be involved in the title race this season. Meanwhile, this weekend’s opponents Everton narrowly dodged the drop last season, and they have picked of late despite a less than desirable start.

This Sunday’s clash should be an intriguing one, and ahead of the game, Toffees boss Lampard has been speaking about counterpart Conte, a man he admired from afar having left before the Italian’s arrival at Chelsea in 2016.

“He’s just a great coach, I know that from his Chelsea days,” Lampard said in his pre-match press conference. “He came in and took on a squad that were in a difficult position and won the league.

“Nobody can understate that, to go from 16^th in the league the year before or whatever it was to champions was amazing. He’s tended to do that and has had great success in his career.

“They’ve got fantastic players, but with your coaching hat on he’s got a very clear, defined way of playing, and it’s clearly well-coached and well delivered and they give you a huge threat which I think we’re all aware of. I’ve got nothing but the highest things to say about him as a coach.”

Conte also spoke about Everton and Lampard in his press conference, saying: “Everton is a really good team, with a really good manager, because Frank Lampard is showing to be a good manager. He had a really important experience with Chelsea. And now he is working very well with Everton. They started the season so-so, but now I think they reached a good stability.

“They have a good balance and they’re showing great solidity, especially defensively. We have to pay great attention, to attack in the right way and the game won’t be easy. And we played only two days ago. And I think we lost a lot of mental energy. Because Champions League is a fantastic competition to play, but at the same time, you lose a lot of energy in this competition.

“But we are ready. And we prepared the game today. I think we are ready to play a good game. It will be very important, the support of our fans, in our stadium. Because in the past, our fans pushed us a lot. They gave us a special push.”