Chelsea: Frank Lampard says he is ‘frustrated’ after Saints draw
Chelsea's Champions League campaign kicks off on Tuesday against Sevilla as Frank Lampard hopes his side can go one better than last season. The Blues were knocked out by Bayern Munich in the last-16 stage.
Lampard, though, who spent big in the summer bringing in the likes of Timo Werner, Kai Havertz and Edouard Mendy is ready for his side to push on.
"It is a great platform to learn because you are playing against the best, we played against the best in Bayern Munich and it shows you the quality levels," the Chelsea boss said.
"We were a young team last year, working a lot to improve, and the Bayern game was a great marker for the young players in the squad to realise the levels that need to be attained. I remember having that myself as a young player.
Edouard Mendy could make a quick return. (Image: GETTY)
"Getting through the group was also difficult for us, having lost the first game [against Valencia] – so we had to show a lot of discipline and focus to get through hard matches at Ajax and Lille. So hopefully there have been lot of lessons learned from that period.
"I remember the first leg [against Bayern] very well, we didn't play particularly well in the first half but had opportunities to score. Then in the second half they scored goals very quickly and made the tie difficult for us."
Lampard has largely a healthy squad for the fixture but doubts still remain over three players...
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Lampard is keen for his side to push on in the Champions League this season (Image: GETTY)
After exploding onto the scene Gilmour's sharp career progression was stunted by a nasty knee injury. But Lampard gave a positive update on Monday.
"Billy’s working really well, he’s probably three weeks away from his return," the Blues boss said. "He’s working outside on his own with the physios still, we hope that he’ll integrate with either ourselves or the Under-23s to get some training minutes.
"So hopefully three or four weeks, probably the other side of the next international break all being well."