Chelsea boss Frank Lampard admits tempers can flare when he faces Liverpool rival Jurgen Klopp.

Lampard has clashed more than once with Klopp since his return to Chelsea as manager, reigniting the fierce rivalry with Liverpool, which emerged when he was a player at Stamford Bridge.

He said: "If you are two teams pushing and driving to be successful, we had it in our years where I was a player here.

"Chelsea were competing to win the leagues here and Liverpool not so much. In the Champions League, we drew each other a lot and those games were ultra-competitive and difficult for us always.

"In the last few years, Liverpool have been fighting at the top of the league and last year they win it. With competition like that, we are in a position where we are trying to improve, trying to close that gap.

"It means both squads, coaches and fan bases, etc, that are very driven to win and that's what the Premier League is all about."

Lampard, however, insisted he had great admiration for Klopp as a coach and his work at Liverpool.

"I have got a huge amount of respect for him as a manager, I always have," said the Chelsea manager.

"What he has done at Liverpool in the course of time has been incredible and that's on him as the focal point of the club.

"There's nothing in it for me. The competitive nature of the 90 minutes can always slightly boil over in different directions. The respect I have for Jurgen Klopp will never change."

The modern rivalry and mutual animosity between erupted in 2004 when Jose Mourinho and Rafa Benitez took charge of the two teams.

"As a player I always felt that, the adrenaline and a feeling for a game at this level, that a team like Liverpool would always put more on the game," he said.

"And as a manager and a coach you understand it yourself. So you want to do well in them, that's what we're in it for."