Our head coach earned his first win as head coach yesterday, with Chelsea brushing aside Irish side St Patrick’s Athletic 4-0 at Richmond Park.

A number of young players have been part of the tour to Ireland and Lampard has confirmed that the opportunity to break into the team is there for all his players, regardless of experience, and that having healthy competition for places is a priority.

‘Everyone needs to impress, that’s the bottom line,’ Lampard explained. ‘But definitely the opportunity is there for everyone to become a part of this side.

‘A lot has been made of the younger players that we have here and whether they can force their way into the side. They need to know that if they do well and impress me and my staff, then the opportunity is there for them to be in this side.

‘We have some very good young players here and they have to impress in every game and every training session.

‘But from the first moments of the game you could see that the likes of Mason [Mount], Tammy [Abraham] and [Fikayo] Tomori were really at it and that’s what we want.

‘We need strong competition throughout the squad and I think we have that here. The Academy is really strong and we’ve worked hard at Chelsea over the past few years to ensure we have these bright talents coming through.

‘Now it’s up to those young players to take it upon themselves to impress me and get into the team, because the opportunities will be there if they apply themselves correctly.’

Abraham started the win over St Pat’s alongside Michy Batshuayi up front, with Olivier Giroud coming off the bench to score twice in the 4-0 win.

While neither Abraham or Batshuayi – who netted the first goal of the Lampard era - could get on the scoresheet against St Pat’s, the boss was delighted with the performances the pair put in.

‘Michy and Tammy were a real handful up front and I was really pleased with them both,’ Lampard added.

‘He was getting into the right positions and he was sniffing out chances but first and foremost, his work-rate and energy was exactly what I want to see from him and that’s how we want to play.

‘We want to have energy in the side and press from the front and Michy and Tammy have both really taken on board what I’ve said to them.

‘So I was delighted with that and I think the only thing missing from both of their performances was a goal. I think if that had been a few weeks down the line then they could have had two or three to their names.

‘But overall I’ve been delighted with all my strikers and I’m confident that things can only get better the more we work with them.’