Lampard to be given Chelsea recall

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Rafael Benitez will recall Frank Lampard for Saturday’s game at Aston Villa and believes the midfielder will break Chelsea’s goalscoring record before the season ends.

Lampard is one short of Bobby Tambling’s record and could be running out of time to surpass it given that his contract is due to expire this summer.

Chelsea have three games remaining before then: this weekend’s match, the Europa League final against Benfica and an end-of-season Premier League fixture at home to Everton.

Lampard, 34, did not feature in this week’s draw with Tottenham but interim manager Benitez plans to select him at Villa Park and is confident the fans’ favourite will add to his goal tally.

Benitez said: “I have confidence that he will do it. He will play at least one more game and we will wait to see what happens in the other two.

Frank Lampard of Chelsea
Lampard is hugely popular among Blues fans.

“Frank is a great professional, a very good player. I am really pleased with him because he is training very well every day and his fitness is quite good.

“He will play against Aston Villa and I cannot say anything about the final. We have to play another game and after I will decide the team for the final.

“I will do what I can to win games and, if I can help Frank at the same time, I will do it.”

Meanwhile, Chelsea are hoping Eden Hazard makes a swift recovery from a calf problem he picked up against Spurs.

But Ryan Bertrand will be unavailable on Saturday as he is still struggling with a knee injury.

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