At a traditional time of year for resolutions and fresh starts, the boss has declared the main target for him and his staff remains the same: to make Chelsea contenders for the Premier League title.

Currently the Blues are 20 points behind pacesetters Liverpool, and while Lampard acknowledges the gap between us and the top of the table remains hefty, he has belief he can mould his team into genuine title challengers by the end of this calendar year.

‘That has to be the aim,’ said Lampard.

‘The transfer ban gave us - myself and the staff - the chance to look at the players and see what we’ve got, look at the youth.

‘The more I see us play, the good and the bad, you change your feelings about how you want to go forward, but the end game will still be the same. Once we can start bringing players in, and the young players mature and get better, we want to bridge that gap and get up there.

‘Whether that can happen next year I don’t know, that will depend on the work we do and how quickly it hits home, but I will certainly not leave any stone unturned in how I try and work to get us there. We’ll have to get recruitment right, that’ll be a huge deal, but we’ve shown at times this year we’ve got a chance.’

For now, the focus is on a trip to the South Coast and a meeting with a Brighton side energised by Graham Potter this season. They gave us a good game at the Bridge in September when two second-half goals secured what was our first home success of the campaign.