![\"talkSPORT](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/0_Burton-Albion-v-West-Ham-United-Emirates-FA-Cup-Fourth-Round-Pirelli-Stadium.jpg\")
<\/p>\nFormer Coventry City defender Stuart Pearce is full of admiration for Frank Lampard and has backed the Sky Blues to emulate their rivals<\/p>\n
Brian Dick Reach Football Correspondent<\/p>\n
10:26, 05 Mar 2026<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Stuart Pearce(Image: PA)<\/p>\n
The intense, long-standing rivalry between Coventry City<\/a> and Sunderland might not make the prediction a comfortable one but former Sky Blues defender Stuart Pearce believes Frank Lampard\u2019s side can emulate the Black Cats\u2019 terrific feat this season.<\/a><\/p>\n It\u2019s probably fair to say Sunderland entered the Premier League<\/a> through the back door last season, nicking a two-leg result despite being outplayed by City for most of the play-off semi-final.<\/p>\n And at Wembley it looked as if they would be overwhelmed until they dug deep and returned to the top flight thanks to a late winner from Tommy Watson to deny Sheffield United.<\/p>\n The Sky Blues will be hoping for much less drama over the final 11 games \u2013 and to replicate what Sunderland have done this term, which is become the third fastest promoted team in Premier League history to 40 points.<\/p>\n Regis Le Bris’ side are safe for at least another season and could even scrape into European football. Pearce, who was at Highfield Road from 1983-85, has backed Lampard to do something similar.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the achievement has been brilliant so far,” he told Betway<\/a>. “I\u2019ve worked with Frank Lampard as a player and obviously on a coaching level, he\u2019s an incredible professional and everything that a professional should be. He\u2019s done a magnificent job there. There\u2019s no doubt if he can get them promoted, it\u2019s a massive achievement.<\/p>\n FOLLOW ON FACEBOOK! Get more Coventry City news and analysis via our FB page<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI think the FA Cup<\/a> victory [in 1987] is a slightly bigger achievement in Coventry<\/a>\u2019s history, but this could rank second potentially, certainly over recent history in the last 50 or so years, no doubt about that.<\/p>\n \u201cBut let\u2019s not underestimate how brilliantly they\u2019ve done. They\u2019ve led the Championship for most of the season, so my fingers are crossed that they do get promoted. I think the club need that.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ve had some tough periods over the last few decades, but certainly they\u2019re going in the right direction at the moment with an outstanding manager.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he\u2019s an individual that\u2019s very professional. He certainly was as a player. He loves the game, but he\u2019s never struck me as an individual with an ego, so he\u2019s very level. I think that plays a big part in modern day management \u2013 not getting too high or too low.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s been around the block and seen everything. I think there\u2019ll be a squad of players that look at Frank and even when they suffer a rocky result, he\u2019ll be nice and calm.<\/p>\n \u201cSunderland have been a great yardstick this year for a promoted teams because they\u2019ve done extremely well. So I see no reason why Coventry can\u2019t achieve that as well if they get promoted.\u201d<\/p>\n Do you agree with Pearce? Have your say<\/a>Get the latest Coventry City headlines sent straight to your phone<\/p>\n Get the latest Coventry City news sent straight to your phone by joining our Sky Blues WhatsApp group. It’s a free service. You just need WhatsApp on your phones to participate. To join, just click here<\/a>, select ‘Join Community’ and you’re in. If you later decide to leave our community, you can do so by clicking on the name at the top of your screen and clicking ‘Exit Group’. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. If you are curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Coventry City defender Stuart Pearce is full of admiration for Frank Lampard and has backed the Sky…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":460041,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[79458,218,30301,221,101,2904,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-460040","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-coventry-city-fc","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-frank-lampard","11":"tag-premier-league","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-sunderland-afc","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=460040"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460040\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/460041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=460040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=460040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=460040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}