Lampard was last in the dugout for the 4-0 win over Everton on Sunday 8 March, and then worked with his players in person early in the week that followed.

Since then, and before this week's return to training, Lampard had a lot of time on his hands away from the hustle and bustle of Cobham, but that doesn’t mean it has been a quiet period. Lampard detais how an average day panned out for him during lockdown before this week.

‘At the moment I’m living at home in Chelsea,’ he said. ‘I wake up and generally take my dog out to get some exercise. I spend some time with the family, learning a few new things! Now I can cook some more dishes at home and all of those sorts of things.

‘I like to exercise regularly, so I tend to try and get out and go for a run, or get on the bike and do things, which is always good for me mentally.

‘And then a lot of work. At the moment I spend quite a lot of time on the computer at home contacting people, whether it be the players, or staff at Chelsea, planning training sessions for the future. I’m always trying to keep my mind engaged. I’m certainly occupying my time well.’

As well as looking forward to more normal times, Lampard has also used this unexpected extra time to reflect on his time in charge of Chelsea thus far.

‘I have watched a lot of games back from this season, focusing on particular parts of the team that I always want to improve. Sometimes when you have game after game you can’t reflect, you’re always looking forward, but I’ve had time to do that.

‘We have got a really good analyst team and we can put together some videos and ideas for the future. That helps me with my planning, how we are going to train, how it’s going to look, and use the time as well as I can to make us better when we come back to where we’re playing.’