Premier League rankings: Chelsea analysis, line-up & predicted finish

Frank Lampard will always have fancied himself to have a crack at coaching Chelsea after deciding to pursue a career in management but surely not even he will have reckoned on returning so soon to the club where he is the record goalscorer.

The idea of having Lamps back is an immediate turn-on for Chelsea's supporters and he will definitely get the patience from the stands that was not afforded to others, and he may get similar treatment from upstairs too with Roman Abramovich prepared to play the long game.

Lampard is only one year into his management career - a career which ended in so-so fashion at Derby. The Rams were sixth when he took the reins and sixth when he finished with an agonising playoff final defeat to Aston Villa.

On the one hand this was a job he could not turn down. It's Chelsea, where he had so many scintillating memories and an opportunity to become a Blues hero all over again.

On the other hand it's Chelsea, where the job tends to come up every 18 months and not usually when there's a transfer ban in place in a summer when Eden Hazard has been sold to Real Madrid.

At his best, Hazard was the optimum individual in the Premier League and his dribbling prowess, with the trademark drop of the shoulder and turn, will be sorely missed by all football fans, not only those who frequent Stamford Bridge.

Hazard scored 16 Premier League goals last season and was the top assist-maker with 15, while he signed off with a virtuoso performance as Chelsea won the Europa League final against Arsenal in what also turned out to be Maurizio Sarri's swansong.

Christian Pulisic was bought in January as a replacement but has no realistic hope of reaching Hazard-like numbers and there will instead be an emphasis on Olivier Giroud, Tammy Abraham and Michy Batshuayi to share the goals.

It's not perfect but hardly disastrous. Much like the timing of Lampard's Chelsea return.

Possible team 4-2-3-1: Kepa; Azpilicueta, Rudiger, Luiz, Emerson; Jorginho, Kante; Willian, Barkley, Pulisic; Giroud.

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