Frank Lampard believes teen star Billy Gilmour already has the "balls" to thrive in Chelsea's challenging quarterback role.
Scottish youngster Gilmour doubled down on his stunning showing in Tuesday's 2-0 FA Cup win over Liverpool by bossing Sunday's 4-0 Premier League thumping of Everton.
The 18-year-old excelled on his full top-flight debut in the complex creative role at the base of a Chelsea midfield missing the injured N'Golo Kante and Mateo Kovacic, and the suspended Jorginho.
Blues boss Lampard also admitted Gilmour has the all-court game to excel anywhere across Chelsea's midfield, boosting his chances of regular appearances even when the senior absentees return to action.
"He's receiving the ball in difficult areas on the pitch where if you don't move it quickly, firstly you don't get the rhythm of our play, it breaks down for you; secondly if you give it away in those areas it's dangerous," said Lampard.
"So you need confidence, you need balls to do that. And Jorginho has it, and Billy has it.
"One of the most pleasing things for me with Billy today was that he showed those balls in the first half, but then when he stepped up into a higher midfielder role he instantly took it on board, arriving in their box, playing balls all around the pitch.
Four goals.Four different scorers! 👌#CHEEVE pic.twitter.com/2oFi2NK241 — Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) March 8, 2020
"So he showed that he can do both which again is a great thing for me when I'm thinking about how the midfield looks at times."
Mason Mount, Pedro, Willian and Olivier Giroud all found the net as Chelsea thrashed Everton for their biggest Premier League winning margin under boss Lampard.
Tuesday's hugely-impressive FA Cup win over league champions-elect Liverpool, and now Sunday's thrashing of the Toffees have pushed Chelsea back into top form.
The Blues secured just a second league win in seven, however, leaving Lampard circumspect about both their recovery and status in the race for Champions League qualification, despite securing fourth spot.
Asked if Chelsea have found a second wind, Lampard said: "I'm a bit wary to say that. The last two performances would look like that, but I'm experienced enough to know that we go to Villa away next, a team fighting for their lives.
"We've had inconsistencies recently, but who hasn't other than Liverpool in this league? I don't accept those inconsistencies obviously, but it's understandable in this transitional period.
"There's still a long way to go. It may look a small cushion from fifth now, but we have to fight to the end.
"It is in our hands, and when I said we were underdogs before, I was looking at the bigger scene. I'm not going to say we're favourites now.
"There's a lot of work to be done, and we have to fight the inconsistencies to get the points. It doesn't feel me to like we're favourites now."
Carlo Ancelotti led Chelsea to their first domestic double in 2010 and enjoyed a warm reception on his first Stamford Bridge return.
🗣️ | More from @MrAncelotti on #CHEEVE... pic.twitter.com/QzZXQXXUnD — Everton (@Everton) March 8, 2020
Everything else proved pretty wretched for the 60-year-old, who later pulled no punches in criticising his players.
Asked if he had any issues with his side's commitment, Ancelotti sighed heavily and then replied: "There are things I can analyse with you, and things I can analyse with my players.
"Everything went wrong, it's not difficult to judge this game. We were not good enough defensively, we were too open, not compact, lost a lot of duels.
"We made a lot of mistakes with the ball, and so it was not a good day. But we must learn from our mistakes. Honestly, it's the first game where we didn't compete. Even if we didn't win in the other games we competed until the end.
"But today was wrong from the beginning. So we must learn from the mistakes and prepare well for the next game."
