It hasn’t been the easiest of homecomings for Frank Lampard since returning to Chelsea as caretaker manager for the remainder of the 2022/23 season, but the Blues legend picked up the first win of his second spell in the dug-out when we triumphed 3-1 away at Bournemouth last week.

He has four games left of the current campaign and his tenure to add to those three points, starting with today’s Premier League fixture at home against Nottingham Forest.

However, speaking ahead of that game, he was keen to point out that in the Blues’ current situation in the midst of widespread change on and off the pitch at the start of a new era, with Champions League qualification now beyond us, some things which go unnoticed outside the club are arguably more important than points at this moment in time.

‘The more you do this job you realise the good and the bad, the things you can control and the things you can’t,’ he said. ‘Sometimes you can’t control the results. Sometimes you’re happy working on things people might not see, which are small positive things behind the scenes, working closely with players, seeing things that are developing behind the scenes.

‘I’ve been impressed with the intention of the club and where it wants to get to – and I think it will get there – and I think we need to work really hard with the group going forward, with the squad and the players and the talent that we have, because that talent has to be converted into end product in this league. Those steps are already in motion and that might not always be visible right now but it’s certainly a process.’

When asked for an example of the progress which gives him confidence in Chelsea’s future Lampard highlighted the recent performances of January signing Noni Madueke, who scored his first goal for the club at Arsenal before putting in his best performance for the Blues so far in last week’s win over Bournemouth.

‘There’s certainly talent in the building,’ added Frank. ‘I think Noni’s a good example of an individual that in the first week of training was a clear talent but I wanted to see a bit more.

‘I had that conversation with him and he showed me more and he’s come into the games and showed me his personality as much as his talent, to come in, in a tough moment, take the ball and show glimpses of his talent.

‘It won’t just stop with him, but those sort of players need stability around them to take forward their own game and they haven’t had that this season. So that’s something I’ve seen and I think probably other people have seen this season.’

However, beyond everything, it is Lampard’s knowledge and experience of the club which places our future success beyond doubt in his mind, as he passionately explained why he sees similarities between the current Chelsea and the one he first joined as a player back in 2001, before winning the lot at Stamford Bridge.

‘My own life experience, I signed for Chelsea when we were a top-six or top-eight team and little did I know it but 15 years later when I left I came out with medals and trophies all over the place because of how the club moved forward.

'I’m not just patting myself on the back there, I was part of a huge process and saw this club grow into the most successful club in the modern era of the Premier League at that time.

‘So there are a lot of great things about this club and the old saying “form is temporary, class is permanent” is quite good in football and when you see a club of Chelsea’s size, and I see fantastic intentions to take the club forward.

‘A lot of big clubs go through this process in some way, shape or form and the more successful you’ve been the more headlines it gets when you go into that moment. So the club just needs to take every step forward as it goes, but it’s an incredible club. This is a huge football club no matter what happens in the next month, six months, two years, three years. This is always going to be a successful football club now and I can’t speak highly enough of it. I would say that, obviously, because of my connection with the club, but I absolutely believe it.’