Sitting in the press room at Stamford Bridge to preview our Champions League clash with Pafos, Delap was less than 100 yards from the Shed Wall, which celebrates several of our greatest players, including legendary Blues strikers Bobby Tambling, Peter Osgood, Gianluca Vialli and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.

While other forwards have struggled to replicate the heights achieved by those who came before in blue, Delap is not concerned by the expectations that come with wearing the famous Chelsea shirt. Instead, he embraces it.

When asked if he was confident he could lead the line for Chelsea and help compete for further Champions League titles – just as strikers of the past – Delap replied: 'Yeah, of course. That's why I came to this club.

'It's such a historic and successful club. We have such a good team and we're just trying to find the right balance and the togetherness, and the way we play, to start winning and start getting the trophies back. We are all hungry for success and we're all really motivated to win. So yeah, that's the goal.'

After two successful seasons, firstly under Liam Rosenior on loan at Hull City in the Championship and then in the Premier League with Ipswich Town, Delap joined Chelsea last summer.

Injuries have limited Liam to just eight starts and nine substitute appearances this season, having featured in six of our seven games on the way to the Club World Cup in the summer, but he is fit now and at just 22 years old, the best is yet to come.

When asked about the pressure of starting up front for Chelsea at such a young age, Delap replied: 'That's why we play football and that is the thing I enjoy about football: the pressure.

'You need that and it is healthy. We still have such a young squad and we are building so hopefully in the years to come we are going to be a really strong side.'