It will be a special day for Lampard, who will be taking charge of his first game at Stamford Bridge in front of a packed crowd since we beat Everton in March 2020, prior to the Covid-19 pandemic – but his focus is solely on getting the Blues back to winning ways as we look to end the season on a high.

‘I want to help this team to kick on and I can see the players are determined to prove themselves, because the talent is there – that’s never been in doubt,’ he writes. ‘So we want to win as many games as we can, improve our position in the league and get that positivity going around Stamford Bridge, because this is a great place to play football when the stadium comes alive, and we want to bring that bounce back with our results and our performances, starting this afternoon.’

The programme also includes an in-depth chat with Joao Felix, who reflects on his early months as a Blue and talks about his early memories of English football.

‘I’m loving the way they play in the Premier League,’ says the on-loan Atletico Madrid forward. ‘It’s so quick, so many duels. I love that the game is so quick here: attack, defence, duels, attack, defence, dribbles, shooting. It’s so good to watch and to play.’

The 23-year-old saw plenty of the Blues during his childhood, when the influence of one of our greatest-ever players helped shaped his own identity on the pitch as someone who loves to express himself.

‘I always looked for Kaka and Eden Hazard,’ he says of his childhood idols. ‘The time Hazard played here at Chelsea was amazing and I always watched his highlights, his skills, everything – Neymar as well. These three were the main ones that I was referencing.

‘I always tried to do my best, to try to enjoy every minute I’m on the pitch. Every single play, every single dribble, shot or pass, I try to enjoy, and I try to let the people enjoy it too. That’s why I play football.’

Terry, meanwhile, sat down for a chat with the matchday programme team shortly after taking to the pitch ahead of our game against Aston Villa to announce the next Chelsea Legends fixture, which will be against Bayern Munich in September.

The fixture is dedicated to the memory of the late Gianluca Vialli, a man who picked JT for his Chelsea debut and gave him invaluable advice as an aspiring footballer.

‘As a young defender, he would often pull me aside and talk to me about the game from his perspective as a striker,’ says JT.

‘Luca would say, “John, this is what I don’t like playing against. This is the sort of run a striker will make to get past you. This is where you need to make things difficult.” He was always passing on that sort of advice, looking to develop my game and encouraging me to look at things from a different perspective. That wasn’t just with me, but with every player in the Academy. He worked so hard with us, wanting to make us better.’

There’s also the latest columns from Cesar Azpilicueta, Emma Hayes and the Academy coaching staff, not to mention all the facts, stats and info you could need on the game at hand, as Pat Nevin offers his insights on Chelsea v Brighton fixtures through the Premier League era.

As ever, there is plenty of nostalgia for you as well. There’s a look back at the 2019/20 campaign, which was Lampard’s first as Chelsea head coach, and Rick Glanvill focuses on a game against Manchester City that season which marked the start of behind-closed-doors football during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Don’t forget to pick up your copy from one of the programme sellers around the stadium, or order online from our publishing partner Reach Sport to have it delivered to your door.