He may have enjoyed the celebrations that followed Chelsea's last-gasp equaliser at Anfield last night, but Frank Lampard says the past week has been the hardest of his life.

The Chelsea midfielder today returns to the bedside of his mother, Pat, who remains seriously ill in hospital with pneumonia. Lampard has spent much of the past week at his mother's side, and only an improvement in her condition persuaded him to leave the Essex hospital to play in the Champions League semi-final, first leg against Liverpool.

"This time last week was very bleak," Lampard said. "I won't go into details but we were getting a very bleak outlook. That was the hardest moment for me in my life. I am very lucky because I have a very tough mum, who is a very good person, and I think that might be what is helping her at the minute." His mother's condition stabilised over the weekend.

"Three days ago I wasn't playing in my mind," he said. "But we got some decent news on Saturday afternoon and my head came round a little bit then. I made a decision to go in training on Sunday to see how I felt. The manager and the club have been fantastic and have not put any pressure on me whatsoever. I just felt I could come and play and in a way the training and the playing has helped to take my mind off things, whereas last week I was in a bad situation.

"I trained yesterday and I will be honest I wasn't in the greatest of shape. I have been in better shape for games both mentally and physically but it has been a very difficult week. Things have brightened up a little bit in the last few days but without that happening back home I wouldn't have been playing. It has been a positive few days from what was a very desperate situation last week."

Chelsea face Manchester United in the Premier League on Saturday and Lampard says he expects to play in the match that is crucial to his team's title chances.

"I know what why mum is like," he added. "My mum and dad follow me up and down the country and hopefully, all being well, my mum will come round and I know she would have had a right go at me for not playing in this game. That was in the back of my mind. She is stable at the minute and that gave me a bit of a clear mind to come and play but I will be back with her tomorrow. In terms of the game it was tough mentally but once the game started I just concentrated on the job. I am sure I will be OK for Saturday."

Lampard believes last night's result at Anfield puts Chelsea in a strong position for the second leg at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday.

"There's been a few times at Anfield when we haven't got our rewards but if you keep going and keep your system, sometimes you get your reward," he said. "It is now a different situation to how it has been in other years. They have got a very talented manager and players and they have got a week to work out what they want to do at our place.

"They are certainly good enough to give it a right go but we have to make sure we are on song. We know our situation. We believe if we can play as we did last night at times and better on our home ground, then we've got a great chance. The fact we got that late goal probably does make it better for us. It is a big lift because we felt the game was petering out as a 1-0. Manchester United is a completely different thing but it is a big lift. But if we beat them and then with Liverpool coming, we might be peaking at the right time."