Chelsea legend Frank Lampard opens up on the club’s struggles this season

Ex-Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard has given his thoughts on the club’s underwhelming start to the Premier League this term.

Prior to Monday’s 2-0 victory over Fulham, Chelsea had collected just five points from their opening six encounters with their solitary win coming against newly-promoted Luton Town.

This was in keeping with their disastrous league form last time out as the Blues suffered their second-worst finish in the Premier League era having ended up in 12th place.

Frank Lampard was in charge of Chelsea for the final 11 matches of the 2022-23 season and has now claimed he isn’t surprised that the club’s struggles have carried over to the current campaign.

“I’m not completely surprised with some of their difficulties, having lived it firsthand at the end of the season,” Lampard said on SkySports’ Monday Night Football show.

“I came into a club where it had been eight months of results you don’t expect from Chelsea, and that’s working with two, in my opinion, very good managers, top managers, in Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter.

“I felt I could see some of the issues there, which were issues probably with confidence from results and maybe some motivation amongst the squad which I think was probably through having such a big squad, unprecedented numbers.

“A lot of players felt their time was up at Chelsea or it was coming or maybe Chelsea were going to move them on and I lived that feeling.”

Having watched his former employers secure a much-needed return to winning ways, Lampard will be hoping that Chelsea’s derby triumph serves as a turning point ahead of a tough run of matches.

Chelsea visit Turf Moor on Saturday afternoon to face off against Burnley for their final outing before the international break.