That most recent meeting at Stamford Bridge was way back on the final day of the 2003/04 campaign, with the Whites already relegated and Claudio Ranieri’s side assured of finishing as Premier League runners-up, our highest league finish since 1963.

The two clubs were certainly on different trajectories at the time, with Lampard featuring in the 1-0 victory courtesy of a Jesper Gronkjaer goal, and then instrumental the following season as we won the title, while Leeds had plummeted into the third tier by 2007.

Eight years ago, Lampard also featured in a fiery League Cup clash at Elland Road so he knows all about a club rivalry that stretches way back, although he insists the message to his players this weekend will be to focus on the task at hand.

‘I’m aware of the rivalry myself from being a Chelsea player for so long and I know how the fans feel about it,’ Lampard said in the build-up to the game. ‘That’s football rivalry in the Premier League between two huge clubs with a history.

‘It’s hard for me to equate that history when I talk to certain players like Timo Werner or Kai Havertz. They don’t know the history so they can only look at Leeds at face value and see a very well-managed team that play with incredible energy and speed in their game.

‘I don’t know if rivalry will come into it or not but it will be a competitive match because that’s how Leeds approach games these days.’

Lampard versus Bielsa provides added spice following the infamous incident in which the Leeds boss sent a member of staff to covertly watch Lampard’s Derby County training sessions ahead of meetings in the Championship two seasons ago.

The saga was dubbed Spygate and resulted in Leeds being fined £200,000 before Derby beat them in a heated two-legged play-off at the end of the 2018/19 season. While Lampard acknowledges it was ‘a great news story’ at the time, he claims to have moved on from the fallout and preferred instead to reflect on his admiration for Bielsa the coach.

‘It’s in the past and I’m certainly not going to dwell on it going into this game,’ he stated. ‘I’d rather dwell on the respect I have for him as a coach. It was a story that had a lot to it but it’s gone now.

‘I just look at how well he’s done there, bringing Leeds up the year after. They were probably the strongest team in the Championship the year we played against them at Derby so it was a very proud moment for us and for myself actually to go against him and win that game [the play-off semi-final].

‘I’m not concerned about what lesson he’s learned or not. I respect him and I respect Leeds but I only see the football side of it now and my only concern is with us being right tomorrow to try and win the match.’

As well as rivalries renewed, there will be a chance for Lampard to come up against two former team-mates in Patrick Bamford, who joined Chelsea at the age of 16 in 2012, and Jack Harrison, a colleague of Lampard’s at New York City. Both players are key attacking components in Bielsa’s free-flowing, dangerous side and the Blues head coach is wary of the problems they can cause.

‘I remember him well,’ he said of Bamford, who has seven Premier League goals to his name already this term. ‘He trained with us quite a lot as a young player when he arrived at the club and clearly had great finishing ability and an eye for goal from that early stage at Chelsea.

‘Obviously it didn’t quite work out for him, which was probably more due to the competition he faced at that period up front for us, but he should be proud of the way his career has gone.’

On Harrison, Lampard notes the winger’s improvement since their days together in the MLS.

‘Jack is a million miles from the player he was in New York,’ he continued. ‘I hope that doesn’t sound a negative in any way because he was a real developing player at that point. I’ve got a lot of time for him and we keep in touch – I actually spoke to him the other day.

‘The player he’s developed into at Leeds has been really impressive. He’s playing great football, a threat to feet, quick, runs with high intensity and he’s one of their major players in an attacking sense so I’m delighted with how his career has gone.’

Leeds currently have the second-highest number of shots in the division and are proving an unpredictable attacking force, so Lampard acknowledges they will provide a challenge to a recently-reinforced Chelsea defence that has conceded just two goals in 10 matches.

‘It will be a big test for us,’ added the boss. ‘If you analyse Leeds, which is not easy because of the way they play, you see they have lots of shots and score goals against top teams. We’ll have to be at our absolute best in terms of concentration and the togetherness in how we defend.

‘We’ve been showing some really good signs and that’s how you get clean sheets from front to back but it will be a huge test because they’re one of the most dangerous teams in the league.’