Ross Barkley has not been the first choice midfielder for Chelsea this season for various reasons but the England international did manage to play the full 90 minutes vs Burnley.
A combination of injuries and off-the-pitch antics have forced the Chelsea boss to use him sparingly meaning the player has a lot of work to do in order to win back the faith of his manager.
In the past, Lampard has chosen to speak out about Ross Barkley and his lack of playing time during the current season but after the Burnley win, the manager was all praise of his midfielder.
Speaking to Chelsea FC’s website, Lampard said: “I speak a lot with Ross and I really like him.
“He came to me a couple of weeks ago and said he was starting to feel good. It was a niggly injury, but he’s just starting to feel absolutely released from it.
“This was the performance [against Burnley] we want out of Ross. It was so positive and you saw his quality on the ball; he can hit a right-foot ball, left-foot ball, take the ball well. He looked confident.
“That’s part of Ross’s game you could maybe question if you look from the outside: how confident is he when things go against him slightly?
“This was exactly what Ross can do; an England player, playing for Chelsea, has given me a lot of thinking to do with that performance.
“He just needs to train well and he needs to play well – and he played well against Burnley. He needs to continue like that.”
So far this campaign, Ross Barkley has managed to play just 429 minutes across 7 Premier League games and as it has been Mateo Kovacic who has won over the Chelsea boss.
Last season both these players played in tandem under Sarri but this year it has been Kovacic who seems to have won the battle but having said that Ross Barkley is still not out of the race.
