Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard says Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard deserves to be a Premier League winner.

Lampard made it clear that they will be competing for the top spot until ­the mathematics make it ­impossible for them to win the title.

"Stevie will go down as a great player no matter what," said Lampard, who has been an England team-mate of Gerrard's for some 15 years as the pair progressed through the Under-21s into the full side. "He has won pretty much ­everything there is going.

"He will be striving to win the league because that is the one little space in his trophy cabinet."

Lampard added: "As a player he deserves that - but there is no sentiment from us. We want to win it.

"We respect the fact that Stevie is a great player, but I don't think that he lives or dies on whether they win the title this year or not."