Frank Lampard is nominated for a Uefa award today, and will find out whether he has won when the pots are drawn for this season's Champions League groups.

Named among the candidates for the Club Midfielder of the Year award, Lampard put in some fine performances in Europe last season, scoring some memorable goals - notably in the Final and the semi, playing just days after the passing of his mother Pat.

Now he is looking forward, and will be an intrigued viewer when the balls are plucked from the pots.

'It will be interesting to see. You know what kind of group you will get, we're top seeds now but there is always tough teams in the other pots,' he forecast.

'I think it does help being top seeds, but I think we should as a club get through to the second stage regardless of seedings, we have good enough players to rival anyone and hopefully that will be the case this year.'

As we plot a possible route to the final, this season represents the possibility of meeting two former Chelsea managers along the way, both with Italian clubs.

Of course José Mourinho is now in charge at Inter Milan, while Claudio Ranieri is the manager at Juventus, a possible group opponent.

'That would be good, I've always had a lot of respect for Ranieri, I like him very much as a manager and Juventus is a great club,' Lampard said.

'They are one of those big clubs you would actually hope to miss out on but we have missed Italian clubs a lot over the last few years and I just have a feeling we will get an Italian club at some stage and it might be one of our ex-managers.'

The 30-year-old signed a new deal at Stamford Bridge just days before the start of the season, which will keep him at the club until 2013.

It was the end of a long process, with ongoing speculation about the midfielder's future lasting in excess of a year. With the ink drying, he is pleased now to be able to concentrate on his football without the distraction of newspaper headlines.

'Yes, it's nice. It's all in the past now and it's nice to talk about football again,' he smiles, relaxing over the special barbeque laid on for the players at our Cobham training ground.

'It was a long summer talking about contracts and I enjoy the fact the season has started now. It has been a positive start and everyone is very upbeat about us.'

Few truer words have been spoken, after a 100 per cent start from the first two league games, including a resounding 4-0 defeat of Portsmouth, which left fans around the country running to the bookies to back Chelsea in the title race.

Like many others, Lampard is encouraged by the start made under Luiz Felipe Scolari.

'It has been very good, with two different performances,' he analysed. 'Against Portsmouth I think everyone sat up and took notice of that, and Wigan was one where we had to dig in a bit more against a very physical team, who I think will cause a lot of problems for team at home this year.'

Many will wish to remember the flowing football of the opening game of the season, rather than the gritty performance in the north-west, yet Lampard insists we must not underestimate the need for fight, despite the passing football on display.

'I think it's important to take a lot from both games. Not every game in the Premier League is easy to play great, flowing football in,' he reasoned.

'Portsmouth we did, and we finished with a very impressive result. It was different at Wigan and we worked hard. We didn't play particularly well but we dug in. A team that is going to win anything, as anyone knows, needs to do both.'

The early signs are good, and Lampard has enjoyed his football so far, playing alongside new team-mate Deco, who he feels has settled quickly into English football.

'Deco has been brilliant, very impressive in pre-season and games where he has been very good. Against Portsmouth he scored a great goal and then the free-kick he hit the other day was a match-winning moment, it's what you want players like him in your team for. I expect more of the same from him,' confirmed the England man.

The Portuguese playmaker's curling effort against Wigan on Sunday suggests he will be at the front of an ever-growing queue for dead ball situations, something with which Lampard has no problem, despite being something of a specialist himself. Indeed he believes a range of options can only be beneficial.

'I think that's great. We haven't always had those options but it's good to have for free-kicks,' he said. 'One - it keeps the goalkeeper guessing, and two - you have different attributes from players. Some can bend them, others go for power, and left foot, right foot, it can only be good for us.'

Deco was the number eight's second new team-mate of the summer, following José Bosingwa into the club. He now prepares to welcome a third in the diminutive shape of Robinho, expected to complete a move from Real Madrid within the next couple of days.

It is a prospective signing that Lampard believes can add yet another dimension to our expansive play.

'He is a fantastic player, I saw a lot of him last season watching the Spanish games. He had a very good season until he got injured and it broke his season up a bit,' he assessed.

'He has great flair, and something that would be nice to bring into our team. We have flair players already but he is another option and he could light up the league. He will have to get used to it because it is different to Spain, but he showed he is a world class player both at Madrid and for Brazil, and world class players adapt.'

With world class sportsmen on the agenda, it is impossible to ignore the recently concluded Olympics as a beacon of excellence. Like the rest of the population, Lampard was enthused with what he saw in Beijing, and feels a sense of pride for the British Olympians.

'I did watch quite a lot of it, in the mornings before training and lots of bits and bobs. In general I liked the American Michael Phelps, who was a standout for dominating the swimming, and Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt was amazing to watch with his world records. I missed the 100 metres first time round but watched the 200.

'In terms of the Brits I was impressed with the swimmer, Rebecca Adlington, and the cyclist Chris Hoy who won all those golds. The British team were top drawer in the way they performed.'

Lampard will be hoping that the country's footballers can knit together in a similar fashion when they meet Andorra and Croatia in the forthcoming World Cup qualifiers, but before that, he will be maintaining his Chelsea focus as we entertain Tottenham in our first London derby of the season on Sunday.

You can read more from Frank on that game here at chelseafc.com on Saturday morning.

By Andy Jones