EPL: How Lampard blasted senior Chelsea players during team meeting

Chelsea's recent improvement in form can be partly attributed to manager Frank Lampard urging the side's senior players to "step up", rather than relying on the in-form youngsters, according to the Daily Mail.

The Blues lost back-to-back matches against Valencia and Liverpool in September, both at Stamford Bridge.

However, they bounced back to win their subsequent two Premier League outings and picked up a vital Champions League away win in Lille.

Although Chelsea's academy graduates have stolen the headlines, there have been notably contributions from the likes of Willian and Pedro more recently.

And it is understood that Lampard and assistant Jody Morris took some of Chelsea's senior players aside and told them to "stop leaving it to the youngsters to secure wins".

Since that crunch meeting, Willian, Pedro, Michy Batshuayi and Ross Barkley have all scored, as the Blues have racked up four straight wins in all competitions, scoring 15 times.