Everton head to Chelsea on Sunday, live on Sky Sports Premier League from 1pm; kick-off at 2pm
Friday 6 March 2020 15:07, UK
Frank Lampard is convinced "gentleman" Carlo Ancelotti will get a great reception from Chelsea supporters when he returns to the club with Everton on Sunday.
Ancelotti won a league and FA Cup double in his first season as Chelsea boss in 2009-10 but was sacked at the end of the following campaign despite a second-place league finish.
He will be back at the Bridge when Chelsea host Everton, live on Sky Sports on Sunday, and Lampard is certain the popular Italian will be well-received by everyone at his former club.
Asked by Sky Sports News reporter Kaveh Solhekol about the reception Ancelotti is likely to receive on Sunday, Lampard said: "A very good one. [He was] very well-respected in-house and I think the fans respect his period at the club.
"He was a gentleman, a fantastic manger. I loved working with him personally and I think he'll get a great reception.
"He's a great man-manager, he was really great on a personal level. He was great at striking relationships with players, he was very good tactically and had a really calm manner.
"He was just someone I personally enjoyed working with. I think we had a very successful first year winning the double. I kept in touch with him and again I have huge respect for him."
Asked if he was surprised Ancelotti was sacked a year after winning the double, Lampard replied: "I'm not surprised. This is football and these things happen all over the world in elite football, so no."
Young Scottish midfielder Billy Gilmour earned rave reviews for his performance in Tuesday's 2-0 victory over Liverpool, which sealed Chelsea's place in the FA Cup quarter-finals.
Asked how the 18-year-old has been in the days that have followed, Lampard said: "The same. We had a day off so I'm sure he enjoyed it, he should do, his family were here for the game.
"But knowing Billy, he's a very determined young lad, he's very smart and he'll understand that it was a really good game for him but the hard work starts now."
Chelsea will be without the injured Mateo Kovacic and the suspended Jorginho for the visit of Everton.
Lampard also revealed England winger Callum Hudson-Odoi aggravated a hamstring injury in training and will be out for longer than first anticipated.
"Callum had a re-injury, yesterday," Lampard said.
"We're having a scan on him this afternoon. So he will be longer than expected.
"It's tough, he wasn't rushed back, and we had all the signs that he was fit to train. Then he re-injured it on his first training session with us.
"So it's frustrating for him definitely, a young boy who's keen to play as you'd expect. And it's frustrating because it's another injury to us."
