Derby County manager Frank Lampard says that the form of Leeds United is irrelevant as he prepares his side for Friday night's clash, reports Lee Sobot of the Yorkshire Evening Post

The Whites still sit top of the Championship table with 26 matches played, but have lost their last three in all competitions.

"We know what a good team they are and we are not really thinking about form," Lampard told his pre-match press conference.

"If we bring our best game, we can give anyone a good game in this league.

"It’s a big test for us but we need to believe in ourselves. If we can claw back some points on the likes of Leeds, then great.”

Marcelo Bielsa's side ran out 4-1 winners at Pride Park in the reverse fixture back in August but have hit a rocky patch of form in recent weeks, losing to Hull City and Nottingham Forest in the league and then going down 2-1 to QPR in the FA Cup last weekend.

The Rams form does not make for much better reading, however, winning just once in their last five matches with a 4-3 win at Carrow Road against Norwich City their sole victory.

Lampard will be eager to close the gap on Leeds with his side currently sat in five places behind them in the table and eight points worse off.

The verdict 

This is standard for a manager to say but I would wager that it is not exactly true.

Leeds are a wounded beast at the moment and with Pablo Hernandez set to miss out on Friday I would be very surprised if Lampard does not set his team up to attack from the start.

There is a lot of pressure on Bielsa to turn their current form around and Lampard should play on that.