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Frank Lampard has warned Steven Gerrard that Chelsea will be out to end the England captain’s dream of winning the Premier League when the close friends clash at Anfield on Sunday afternoon.

The title winners’ medal is the one honour to elude Liverpool skipper Gerrard in his illustrious career and the Reds are odds-on to fill that gap as the race for the championship enters a crucial stage.

But the west Londoners are the ­arch-realists and, ­weakened team or not, Lampard made it clear that they will be competing for the top spot until ­the mathematics make it ­impossible for them to win the title.

“Stevie will go down as a great player no matter what,” said Lampard, who has been an England team-mate of Gerrard’s for some 15 years as the pair progressed through the Under-21s into the full side. “He has won pretty much ­everything there is going.

“He will be striving to win the league because that is the one little space in his trophy cabinet.”

Lampard added: “As a player he deserves that – but there is no sentiment from us. We want to win it.

"We respect the fact that Stevie is a great player, but I don’t think that he lives or dies on whether they win the title this year or not."

Chelsea manager Jose ­Mourinho has already hinted that he may field it a sub-strength team against the Reds.

The home defeat by Sunderland last week left Chelsea trailing in Liverpool’s ­slipstream.

And after a ­creditable goalless draw in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final in Spain against Atletico Madrid last week, European glory appears their best bet for ­silverware.

­Mourinho will want to reduce the risk of injury to key personnel ahead of Wednesday’s second leg at Stamford Bridge.

He has already lost keeper Petr Cech (dislocated shoulder) while John Terry (ankle) faces a race to make the kick-off.

“They are a tough two matches,” said Lampard, whose suspension for the return with Atletico makes him a certain starter on Sunday.

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“But if you want to fight on different levels you have to be big enough as a squad to stand up and do it. Now it is up to the manager how he ducks and dives with both squads. We haven’t given up on the league.

“You can’t when there are nine points to play for. All we can do is try to win the three league games and hope results go our way.”

Lampard conceded that the loss of Cech with a shoulder injury suffered in Madrid is “a big blow”. But he was quick to hail replacement Mark Schwarzer, who came on for Cech early in the match in Spain.

Lampard said: “Schwarz was great in Madrid. We’ll miss Petr, but we have a great man to come in and replace him.”