WE’LL GO EASY ON SUPER SILVA, SAYS LAMPARD

FRANK Lampard will tailor defender Thiago Silva’s training schedule to ensure the Brazilian can continue to plug Chelsea’s defence. Silva and fellow summer recruit Edouard Mendy — who faces his former club Rennes in the Champions League tonight — have had a resounding impact on Lampard’s team in recent weeks. The arrival of 36-year-old Silva on a free transfer from Paris Saint-Germain raised a few eyebrows but the cultured centre half looks to be one of the signings of the season. The defender has played a key role in Chelsea claiming four successive clean sheets to ease long-standing criticisms over their rearguard. However, given his age, it remains to be seen how regularly Silva can feature. But Lampard is ready to look after his South American star to ensure he can continue to lead the defensive resurgence. The Chelsea boss said: ‘Managing his workload is very important. You try to have standards and levels that you train at. Every day we gauge fitness levels for the players and we try and balance it out to make sure that every player is at an optimum level as much as we can. Every player has different levels. ‘Around the general rule of how we train, whether I talk with the sports science team, some of it is in my eye and a lot of it comes from my relationship with the players. ‘In particular, when you have an experienced player, a great professional like Thiago is, that honest conversation is very easy and if it means managing training and game time like it did last week with the game in Russia (against Krasnodar) then I’ll be very honest with him and tell him what I think.’

New signing Mendy has established himself as Chelsea’s undisputed first-choice keeper after his £22m move from Rennes. The 28-year-old has conceded just once — in an EFL Cup tie against Tottenham — in his six games for Chelsea. Lampard said of his new keeper: ‘He has shown the qualities that we were looking for, has brought confidence to those around him and should take credit alongside others. ‘He is very low maintenance, he works hard and is eager to engage with his team-mates and myself with a smile on his face. It’s a real positive when a player comes in and hits the ground running.’