There was some frustration at the break, with the game still goalless despite the Blues going in with 17 shots to the visitors’ zero, but a penalty from Jorginho followed by a deflected drive by Willian secured the precious points for the Blues. Lampard felt it was a deserving victory as his side produced a dominant display from start to finish.

‘We’ve been waiting for it,’ he smiled at his post-match press conference. ‘The reason we’ve not won at home [in the league] before today is because we’ve not put together a 90-minute performance to win a game.

‘We’ve put together parts of games – half against Leicester, half against Sheffield United – but today we put in a good performance. It was solid, comfortable, professional, lacked more goals because we created enough to score four or five, but a clean sheet as well which is something we’ve been striving for. It was a good day all round and good for confidence in the dressing room.’

It was the experienced players on the pitch that Lampard highlighted for particular praise.

‘Everyone has been drawn to talking about the young players but they will always need experienced players around them. You’re talking about Jorginho with the coolness of head to score the penalty, and Willian who not only created chances for himself and got his goal but showed fantastic work ethic as well.

‘Those are the standards. Some of the experienced players can set those standards and the young players must follow.’

Jorginho’s performance clearly pleased the boss, who claimed the Italian’s work ethic and attitude were things the young players could look up to.

‘He’s a leader in his personality. For whatever reasons, people made judgements about him last season but I can only judge what I see in front of me and from pre-season he’s been one of the leaders in the dressing room and on the pitch.

‘He wants to win and to show that in everything you do is so important. He does that so I’m pleased with him. The young players need to look up to that kind of attitude that he has daily.’

Lampard also revealed what was said to his players at half-time.

‘The performance pleased me. My message to the players at half-time was not to get despondent, not to get flat or sloppy, which we did in moments in the first half. The key was to keep playing at pace because we were creating a lot.

‘There was a different feel today. When the ball moved quickly, it looked good. Mason was moving it quickly, Willian was getting his shots away and moving people, Tammy was all-action. I felt the goal was coming and it was important to say that to the players and for them to take that back out because they deserved something to drop their way. The penalty was that moment.’

The boss was keen to emphasise that our positive momentum should now be maintained in the coming weeks.

‘The home games have been frustrating for different reasons. It’s not that we’ve played terribly, it just hasn’t happened for us so today was a nice one. We controlled every part of the game and hopefully that will give the players and fans confidence.

‘Our important thing now is to take this forward to Lille and to Southampton next weekend because we can’t rest on that. We are slightly younger and transitional this season so daily improvement is our main aim and we must carry on with that.’

Kante missed the game with a minor hamstring problem and Lampard concluded with an update on the Frenchman’s fitness.

‘I spoke to N’Golo about it and I didn’t want to take the risk. He’s so important for us but it’s been difficult for him to get going because of the break-up of his pre-season, with his injury carried over from last season. It wasn’t right to risk it today but he could have a chance for Lille.’