Frank Lampard has suggested that some Chelsea players haven't been as committed as others this season. Unless the Blues manage to pick up seven points from their final three games then they will register their worst ever points tally in Premier League history.
In the 1995/96 and 2015/16 seasons, the west Londoners managed to collect just 50 points from 38 fixtures. With Manchester City, Manchester United and Newcastle left to play, Chelsea must go unbeaten for the remainder of the season – and first is the reigning Premier League champions, who need just one win – or for Nottingham Forest to beat Arsenal – to defend their crown.
Ahead of the Blues' trip to the Etihad Stadium on Sunday, Lampard hinted at his dissatisfaction with some of his players' effort. The caretaker Chelsea boss said: "I think if you are a player there are two ways you can look at it.
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"You can go, don’t fancy that because it is going to be too challenging, or you go no, no I’m going to show individually in my own way what I can do in a game, to show. And since I have been here some of the players I can say will certainly do that.
"The other ones I want to see whether they want to show. Simple as that, in terms of performance."
With Chelsea in for a difficult afternoon, Lampard has asked his players to dig deep and find motivation for the clash. The 44-year-old added: "Whatever their motivation is, whether it is to impress an incoming manager, whether to impress another club they might be moving on to, if that is the motivation they need then they should take that and use that.
"Because these are three really tough games, three against the top four, two of them away from home coming up, starting with City."
Lampard was also asked whether or not he agrees with Mikel Arteta that City are currently the best team in the world. He replied: "I don't think at this moment you can argue with that, I understand Mikel saying it.
"I think they are the best team in the world. Is it good for English football? Yeah, why not. You have to push the standards of the league and others have to react to that.
"We have this incredible brand here where the league improves year on year as far as I see the competitive nature of staying in the league, making the top four and Manchester City have set the standards. The rest of the league have to try to aspire to be that.
"It's not easy because they've done things very clinically in a really good way over a number of years. If we all take away our rivalry feelings, if you are a rival of Manchester City, you can't be anything but impressed by the nature of their game, how they play, especially watching them the other night. It was fantastic to watch. I don't think it's a bad thing at all."
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