Lamela relishing busy days ahead

Erik Lamela welcomes the season going into overdrive after this international break.

After a steady start of four Premier League games over successive weekends, the calendar kicks in with the introduction of Champions League and League Cup matches in the next few weeks.

Indeed, we now face seven games in 21 days between Saturday and 5 October – Palace, Olympiacos, Leicester, Colchester, Southampton, Bayern Munich and Brighton – before internationals return mid-October.

“September is busy, and I like that,” said the all-action Argentine, enjoying a fine start to the campaign. “Everyone gets minutes, everyone gets fitness and that is always good for the team, for all the players, for the mentality.

“We did well against Arsenal and if we win the first few games after the international break we can really go forward. I think we play better when we have a lot of games. Hopefully we can win the next few games and really start to push on.”

Reflecting on our start in the Premier League, Erik described the home loss to Newcastle as ‘the only disappointment’ after beating Villa and picking up draws on the road at City and Arsenal.

“Newcastle was a difficult defeat for us,” he added. “We’ve played City and Arsenal away, tough games. Okay, we didn’t win, but we didn’t lose. I remember last season we lost both of those matches and we maybe could have beaten Arsenal.

“Now it’s time to start again after the international break against Palace. That’s another tough game but we all want to get more points to push up the table.”

On his positive start to the season - four starts, a goal and two assists - Erik added: “Personally, I feel good and from the beginning of the season, it’s true, I’ve started all the games. But that doesn’t matter for me. The team is all that matters.

"I always try to be fit. At times, you can have problems, like I did in the last few seasons, but I always do my best to be available and this season has started well."