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Chelsea FC: Greatest XI from the Roman Abramovich era

By Christopher Godfrey

LONDON - SEPTEMBER 13: Frank Lampard of Chelsea celebrates scoring the first goal with Arjen Robbenduring the UEFA Champions League Group G match between Chelsea and RSC Anderlecht at Stamford Bridge on September 13, 2005 in London, England. (Photo by Ben Radford/Getty Images)
LONDON - SEPTEMBER 13: Frank Lampard of Chelsea celebrates scoring the first goal with Arjen Robbenduring the UEFA Champions League Group G match between Chelsea and RSC Anderlecht at Stamford Bridge on September 13, 2005 in London, England. (Photo by Ben Radford/Getty Images) /
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LONDON, ENGLAND – FEBRUARY 25: Frank Lampard shows appreciation to the fans at half time during the Premier League match between Chelsea and Swansea City at Stamford Bridge on February 25, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – FEBRUARY 25: Frank Lampard shows appreciation to the fans at half time during the Premier League match between Chelsea and Swansea City at Stamford Bridge on February 25, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images) /

Central Midfield: Frank Lampard- 2001-2014

In 2001, a virtually unknown player arrived at Chelsea from West Ham. He had been playing well for the Hammers and his uncle (not blood related) was Harry Redknapp. Chelsea signed him for  £11m which at that time was a big fee.

The rest is history. He served Chelsea for 13 years and is the clubs all-time leading goalscorer for Chelsea with 211 goals in all competitions. Lampard leads other greats such as Eidur Gudjohnsen, Hasselbaink, Drogba etc and he did it all from the midfield.

He is considered by most football fans as being one of this generations best midfielders, if not the greatest. Fellow world greats such as Iniesta and Xavi both heralded Lampard as being an icon for the sport when he retired.

Lampard was known for his consistency as he made a record of 164 consecutive appearances for the club. He never wanted to be rested and he put 100% effort in every game.

The Englishman was in every essence the complete midfielder. A true number 8 (which he wore on his shirt). He could get box to box, he was a number 10 by creating and scoring goals and he was a number 6 in the latter part of his career by dropping further back.

He is the only midfielder ever to have scored 150 goals in the Premier League.

Lampard is second in the all-time leading assists table behind Ryan Giggs.

In 2005 he was runner-up for the Ballon D’or and the Fifa World player of the year award missng out on the prestigious Ballon D’or due to a certain Ronaldinho.

Lampard should’ve won that award in my opinion. No other central midfielder has ever scored and created as much as he has. (I’m pretty sure, but correct me if I’m wrong).

Lampard played in all of the clubs 38 fixtures for three consecutive seasons with the club and in 2004/05 scored 13 goals while also topping the assists chart with 16. He won his first major trophy for the club after winning the Premier League title.

In the Champions League he also scored some memorable goals, particularly against Barcelona in 2006, where he scored a goal from a seemingly impossible angle.

In the following 05/06 season he scored 16 goals while also winning the Premier League title again.

His coach, Jose Mourinho, hailed him as “the best player in the world” in 2005.

In 2009/10 he scored 22 goals (27 in all competitions) and won the Premier League title again after 3 years without winning it.

He scored 20 plus goals in all competitions in every season for Chelsea. Tell me another central midfielder that has scored as much. He is only one of three players in the Premier League history to have over 100 goals and 100 assists.

Lampard won literally every trophy for Chelsea while his list of individual awards is way too long for me to even try to cover.

I was planning on keeping every entry in this slide show to be somewhat short and succinct but Lampard’s accomplishments at Chelsea made it a much longer entry than anticipated. He is in my (somewhat Chelsea biased) mind the greatest midfielder of all time.

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