Lampard ‘very hopeful’ ahead of new season but admits there is extra pressure

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Chelsea boss Frank Lampard says Chelsea’s spending in the close season means they cannot shy away from increased expectations.

The Blues made a spectacular return to the transfer market following their ban, spending around £200m on some of the brightest young talent in world football.


Timo Werner, Kai Havertz, Hakim Ziyech, Ben Chilwell and veteran defender Thiago Silva have all arrived and hopes are high the Blues can improve on their third-place finish last season and push Manchester City and champions Liverpool much closer this term.

“We have made some big signings. We are very hopeful,” Lampard said.

“The profile of them I love. A lot of them are younger players. They have come in with great personality and they are good lads and obviously quality players and now we need to integrate them in.

“There is no doubt that the pressure feels different. We can’t hide away from that.

“We can hopefully go day-by-day and game-by-game improvement to get that level of consistency.

“We want to get back to where Liverpool and Manchester City are, but they have been a work in progress for a number of years.

“There is a lot of work getting nearly 100 points in a season so we need to try to bridge that gap in our own way.

“It may take a bit of time and that is the nature of top-level football.”