Frank Lampard, "We've fought against a lot of things - big injuries to big players at big times in the season. There've been other problems at the club and they have to be addressed, simple as that. We cannot lose the spirit that has got us where we are, with certain people.
"There are a lot of reasons we lost the league and some of them weren't in our control," he said. "We can't make excuses and have to give credit to United, who've had a great season, but I believe that without the injuries to Petr [Cech] and John [Terry] and many, many more, there wouldn't be that gap in points. To me that's just a fact. It's no excuse and credit to United for what they've achieved, but we'll be back.
"The best team in the country wins the league - that's what you say when you win it.
"But I think we've got the best squad. We've got a huge game coming up against United in the Cup Final, but words don't mean much if you start saying 'we're the best'. What matters is performance and we have had to perform against a lot of things this year."
John Terry has confirmed that he will lead a guard of honour for United, "The manager has said already they will get the guard of honour which they did to us at Old Trafford. Looking at some faces, it could not have been nice. We have to go through that and we fully respect them as players and individuals. We will do that holding our heads up high."
"They are champions, and congratulations to them for that. They have been very good this year."