The Blues take on the Gunners, who are still competing with Manchester City for the Premier League title, at the Emirates Stadium tomorrow evening with Lampard eyeing up a first win as caretaker manager.

Victory would put a dent in Arsenal’s title hopes, but Lampard has been impressed by the work of Mikel Arteta – and the club generally – this season and feels Chelsea should follow their lead in the aim of returning to the summit of English football once again.

Looking specifically at the game ahead, Lampard believes this could be a good time to face the Gunners following their 4-1 defeat to City last time out – meaning Arsenal have now failed to win in their last four games.

‘It could be either way [whether a good time to play Arsenal or not] depending on how you look at things,' Lampard told journalists at our Cobham training base.

‘They’re still very much in the hunt to win the Premier League, they’re a fantastic team who have had a great season.

‘If they’re wounded slightly, then that could give a big reaction but equally if we can make life difficult for them, then of course that could feel different.’

Our caretaker manager believes Chelsea can start challenging with Arsenal for Premier League titles once again in the not-too-distant future, with Lampard looking at both clubs subjectively at his pre-match press conference.

‘I think it's interesting to compare the Arsenal story with ours,’ added Lampard. ‘We all had a little insight into Arsenal and how they operate through the Amazon series and I think what you see is that there's a long process to get to where you want to.

‘I remember playing Mikel's early teams and sometimes it was a five [at the back], sometimes a four - now you see they have a very clear identity in the way they play and a strong vision in terms of recruitment and the profile of player.

‘If we talk about it as just this season in isolation, I think you have to go back to the tougher periods. Do we have the possibility to do that here at Chelsea? Yes. Will it take time and through good decisions along the way? Absolutely yes.’