"It's Going To Be A Really Tough Game"

Manager Frank Lampard is expecting a tough encounter against top-of-the-table Leeds United on Friday night.

Leeds sit at the summit of the Sky Bet Championship following an impressive first half of the season.

They have won 15 of their 26 games so far this season and sit top of the tree on 51 points, two points ahead of Norwich City.

The Rams head into the game eight points off the hosts, however, they know a win will cut that gap to just five points.

“It’s a really tough game and they are a team that have been the most outstanding team of the first half of the season, along with Norwich,” Lampard told RamsTV.

“They have lost a few games recently so they will be fairly wounded. It will be a tough match for us.

“We will have to go there absolutely at it across the pitch, try and bring our quality but more than that, we will have a fighting spirit, a passion and desire to do everything we can do to get a result there.

“You can’t go to Leeds and expect a result without anything other than that high energy, full pelt performance we put in in the last 30/40 minutes [against Southampton] and we need to take it to Leeds.

“It’s going to be a tough game, they are all important for us now. We go into the second half of the season knowing where we are at. We have to fight to try and stay in the position that we are in or get higher and that fight is every week.”