After seeing his side sit top of the table for a brief period on Saturday afternoon, questions were inevitably asked about the potential of this Chelsea team to launch a sustained challenge at the summit.

However, in the aftermath of our win at Newcastle, Frank Lampard was quick to downplay the excitement and insisted there was still plenty of room for improvement.

‘After eight or nine games, it would be very easy to get excited about being in a lofty position but I’m not going to smile too much at the league table,’ claimed the boss.

‘It’s nice to have three points when you’re the first game of the weekend but I knew the league table would change by the end of it. We can only worry about ourselves and our recent form has meant we’re in a decent position but doing that consistently over a big period is the next step for us now.’

The Blues are two points off the top as we approach the quarter mark of the campaign and it is making up ground on the teams above us that Lampard has targeted, first and foremost, as his side’s primary objective this term.

Since winning the title in 2016/17, we have finished 30, 26 and 33 points behind the eventual champions.

‘The first port of call this year was to close the gap on Manchester City and Liverpool, who have set different levels of consistency and amassing points through a season,’ he explained.

‘We are improving but we cannot get carried away with ourselves at this early stage. We have to try to reach those levels of consistency but I’m happy with where we’re at right now.’