FRANK LAMPARD insists Chelsea will beat Manchester United on Sunday regardless of whether or not Cristiano Ronaldo plays.

HAND ON HEART ... midfielder Frank Lampard is confident Chelsea will beat Manchester United

Ronaldo is set to be among the United substitutes against Villarreal in the Champions League tonight.

And United boss Alex Ferguson hopes the winger will be fit to face Chelsea.

But Lampard believes nothing can stop the Blues extending their lead over the reigning Premier League champions.

He said: "I don't know what the situation is with him and I'm not too concerned, really.

"He's probably the best player in the world having achieved what he did last year you can't take that away from him.

"But whether after a few months out they'll put him back in, I don't know.

"If they do, we'll have to deal with that. We're good enough to deal with United at their strongest we shouldn't want them weak.

"If they are strong, we still want to beat them.

"We're confident, the players are playing well, the team is playing well, we're playing good football and scoring goals.

"We know they've got quality and we're at home, we'll have the crowd behind us and we'll be going full pelt."