Lampard future clouds super eight Chelsea

LONDON (AFP) –

Chelsea‘s English midfielder Frank Lampard shoots during the English Premier League football match between Chelsea and Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge in London, on December 23, 2012. Lampard admits his Chelsea future remains uncertain despite the midfielder establishing himself as the club’s leading top-flight scorer in the 8-0 rout of Aston Villa.

Frank Lampard admits his Chelsea future remains uncertain despite the midfielder establishing himself as the club’s leading top-flight scorer in the 8-0 rout of Aston Villa.

Lampard marked his 500th Premier League start with his side’s fourth, his 130th Chelsea goal in the Premier League, taking him past the previous mark set by Bobby Tambling.

However, the midfielder, 34, is out of contract at the end of this season and has so far not received the offer of a new deal from the club.

“I’m not concentrating that far as I’m under contract and I love playing here so I’m going to continue game by game and just be pleased to be fit. I really enjoyed this match and just want to keep enjoying my football. I believe I have a lot in me to go,” he said.

“The club’s position is its position, I don’t want to get too deep into that. I’m here to play football and show people what I can do and I’ll continue to do that.

And he added: “The record means a lot. The starts are great, I’ve been very fortunate to play for a great club and the managers and team-mates I’ve had, I’m very proud of that.

“The goals record, I’m very proud to beat such a great man as Bobby Tambling, who is an absolute legend and a lovely bloke.”

The Chelsea goals were shared between seven players with Fernando Torres, David Luiz, Branislav Ivanovic, Oscar, Ramires (2) and Eden Hazard also on target while Lucas Piazon missed a penalty.

“The team is attacking and not depending upon one or two players,” said manager Rafael Benitez.

“That is good news and hopefully we can do the same on Wednesday (at Norwich). We had other chances. The other team was suffering.”

And Benitez believes his side are still in the title race after moving back to third, 11 points behind leaders Manchester United.

“The main thing is to win our games. You can do that if you can see the team improving. I’m sure it will be closer.

“We’ll try to be as close as possible, but you can see the mentality of the team — even after six goals they were still pushing forward for more. I can see the team improving the little things we wanted to improve, but still we can improve some things and I say that after winning by eight.”

Benitez confirmed striker Daniel Sturridge has undergone a medical at Liverpool and is expected to leave Chelsea when the January transfer window opens.

Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert admitted his side had been left stunned after coming into the game on the back of a six-game unbeaten run.

“We’ll go back to the training ground, train tomorrow and Tuesday, and go again. You go into every game thinking you can win. The first goal put us on the back foot, two minutes gone with a great header… but football shouldn’t surprise you,” he said.

“They’re a really young side. Sometimes getting beat tells you a lot about people.

“It’s a heavy beating, but I can’t allow one defeat mask over what’s happened of late. I don’t get too high when I win, so we’ll pick ourselves up and go again.”