Chelsea players must use final games to prove their worth, says Frank Lampard

Frank Lampard has challenged his Chelsea squad to use the club’s last three games of the season to prove why they deserve to have a future at Stamford Bridge or be able to attract a move elsewhere.

Chelsea have a tough end to their disappointing Premier League campaign in the final week. They play champions-elect Manchester City at Etihad Stadium on Sunday before facing top-four contenders Manchester United (away) and Newcastle United (home).

With Chelsea down in 11th place, there is not much to play for because they are too far adrift to qualify for one of the European competitions.

But Lampard, who was named caretaker manager last month, feels every player must realise they have a need to impress, either to catch the attention of the next permanent head coach Mauricio Pochettino or to convince someone else to buy them.

When asked if the Chelsea players can not afford to treat these fixtures as dead games, Lampard replied: “No, absolutely (not). It is really important that they take (it like) that. Whatever their motivation is, whether it is to impress an incoming manager, whether it is to impress another club that they are maybe moving on to, if that’s the motivation they need, they should take it and use it.

“We have really tough games, three of the top four, two away from home starting at Manchester City. If you are a player, there are two ways you can look at it — you can go ‘I don’t fancy that because it is going to be too challenging’ or you go ‘no, I’m going to show individually in my own way what I can do in the game’.

“Since I have been here I can tell there are some players who do that. The other ones I want to see if they want to show that. It’s as simple as that in terms of performance.”

Manchester City will lift the Premier League trophy after the game if they get all three points. Pep Guardiola’s side are going to secure top spot anyway if Arsenal lose at Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

Should Manchester City get the chance to celebrate after the Chelsea game as expected, Lampard wants his players to understand how much hard work it will take for them to win the title one day.

Lampard, who won three Premier Leagues during his playing career at Chelsea between 2001-14, added: “We should definitely be respectful (to any trophy celebration) on the day of the game, but the only inspiration (I want) for the young players to take is what it’s taken for Manchester City to get to where they have got, not the moment they lift the cup. It’s Kevin De Bruyne’s journey, Erling Haaland’s journey, Ilkay Gundogan’s journey, John Stones’s journey.

“Sometimes a player has to understand that the cup-lifting moments are because of all the work done over the years, against the odds, whatever it is.

“Do you have to be ruthless like them? Yes. It’s absolutely what it takes. In the modern day, we are surrounded by podcasts and Netflix series of athletes. I’ve watched The Last Dance again recently, just to go over it.

“We are all about glory and talking about legacies, what people have done, but when you see the hard work it takes to actually get there, that’s the reality. There is a lot of failure on the way to success. As a player, you have to not listen to that casually, but actually listen and act upon it.”