Chelsea boss Frank Lampard says he won't abandon his playing principles to snap their current slump.

A run of three defeats and a draw from their last five matches has seen the Blues lose ground in the Premier League title race, although their previous 17-game unbeaten sequence keeps them firmly in contention.

Ahead of Sunday's meeting with Manchester City, Lampard said: “One of my strengths hopefully is never being too excited when we're going well. For instance, trying to dampen flames after Leeds (Chelsea won 3-1 on December 5) for when everyone was talking us up.

“And then my job is to not be too down when results go against us. The first person who puts pressure on me is me. I do that all the time, for good and bad, so that doesn't change much.

“I'm not stupid, I know that we need to get results. We want to get results. Do I change things? Sometimes, a little bit. I tweak things. I never think I've cracked it or that a result had nothing to do with me.

“You have to search, but you also have to stick to your principles. Sometimes the things that get lauded when you do well get criticised when you don't purely because of the result.

“So some things you don't move away from, but for sure you change other things to get up there. I do that every day.

“I enjoy pressure. If I didn't, I wouldn't have got back into this. I would have walked away at the first chance and that's something I'd never do.

“That doesn't mean you're as happy as when you're on that 16-game unbeaten run and that's normal. But it does make me focus absolutely. You learn more in defeat and tough moments.

“It's head down time. Head down and work. And not consider the table too much. We know we're there or thereabouts."