As recently as late August, Chelsea’s
Frank Lampard still sat at the top of the FTBL World Ranking of midfielders with an overall rating of more than 220 points. Then he initiated a slide that has seen him drop 60 rating points in the last 5 games alone!
The shocking upset at Wigan Athletic had much to do with Lampard’s misfortune, but most of all his inability to score goals (as he used to do so often) has been at the core of a relative decline that is surely worrying coach Anceloti and England boss Fabio Capello. Lampard has scored just twice in his last 10 games, and those two were from set pieces: penalties.
The England international will have a combine plank of 53 rating points in his next 5 games. And despite that fact that the Blues will cross swords with Liverpool Sunday, the plank should not prove particularly arduous for such a talented player. To make matters a tad better, Chelsea have won 18 of their last 20 games against the Reds, and Lampard averages 14.42 rating points per game. Based on these facts, it is safe to bet that Lampard will hit 170-180 points by month’s end.