Derby County boss Frank Lampard has insisted his side are underdogs heading into their Championship play-off tie with Leeds United.
The Rams secured their top-six spot with a 3-1 victory over West Brom on a dramatic final day in the Championship, setting up a double-header with Marcelo Bielsa’s side to be contested over the next 10 days.
Lampard’s side have won four of their last six league games to secure that spot but, despite their fine run of form, the Chelsea icon insists his side are not the favourites ahead of their play-off venture.
“The achievement is great to be in that bracket, with Leeds and Aston Villa, but we’re massive underdogs. Let’s just enjoy that tag and see what we can do,” he told Sky Sports.
Leeds United face 'spygate' 2.0 against Derby County in Championship play-offs
“I know who they are, I’ve been asked it a million times. All the history is history. These are two massive games against a team that looked like they were going to run away with it this year.
“We’re going to give it everything. I think there will be motivation for everyone at the club. What we as staff and players have to do is take that away and think what can we do over these two matches to win them and a potential game at Wembley.”
A major sub-plot for those games will be the ‘spygate’ saga that surrounded Leeds’ clash with Derby earlier this season but Lampard refused to be drawn into that, instead identifying that the performances of his side against Leeds earlier this season have not been good enough.
“Take away all the spying talk we didn’t play well in either of those games and Leeds beat us well and beat us true. They were good lessons to learn,” he explained.
“When I talk about us being underdogs I truly believe it. I think they’re a fantastic team. We’ve been more inconsistent than them without a doubt, so there you go.
“That’s the challenge for the lads, two games against Leeds we didn’t turn up, we’ve now got two more opportunities.
“I think they caught us cold at Pride Park. They were too quick, too fast for us. We need to learn those lessons.”
The first-leg of the Championship play-offs will be played at Pride Park on Saturday May 11, with the reverse fixture at Elland Road on Wednesday May 15.
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