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Football London
Football London
Sport
Jamie Kemble

Frank Lampard's best decision is still paying dividends for Chelsea and Thomas Tuchel

Frank Lampard's time at Chelsea is likely to be summed up very differently, depending on who you ask.

The Blues legend guided the club to a top four finish despite a transfer ban in his first season, but he couldn't get the best out of a squad the club spent more than £200million to rejuvenate last summer and paid the ultimate price.

But despite a lack of success on the pitch, there's no doubt Lampard made some decisions that will continue to benefit Chelsea into the Thomas Tuchel reign and likely beyond.

The former midfielder put faith in a number of Chelsea's youngsters during his time in charge, allowing the likes of Mason Mount and Reece James to establish themselves as first-team regulars.

And he also put plenty of faith in centre-back Kurt Zouma, who made 15 Premier League appearances under Lampard this season alone.

The 26-year-old has featured less often under Tuchel, who has favoured the likes of Thiago Silva, Antonio Rudiger and Cesar Azpilicueta, but he remains a solid option.

And his latest performance saw him impress as Chelsea kept a clean sheet in a 2-0 home win over local rivals Fulham last time out.

That performance means he is ranked as the fourth-best defender in European football according to power rankings from CIES, who update the ratings each week.

Only Joao Cancelo, John Stones and Joel Matip are ahead of Zouma as things stand with the metrics based on technical gestures achieved by players, their playing time, as well as the level of the competitions in which matches were played.

Zouma might just want to pin that list of rankings on Tuchel's office door as he looks for more appearances under the German head coach, and he might just have Lampard to thank for his prominence on the list given how his former boss put so much faith in him.

Since Tuchel's arrival, despite there being three centre-back spots up for grabs, Zouma has only made six Premier League appearances and he has only played one of the five Champions League knockout fixtures during that time.

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