Frank Lampard thanks Chelsea fans

Frank Lampard praised Chelsea fans for giving him the send-off he admits he wishes he had received the club four years ago.

On Wednesday night, Lampard – now manager of Derby – made his eagerly-awaited return to Chelsea for the first time since he left the club in 2014.

The former Blues midfielder – who remains Chelsea's all-time leading goalscorer – was greeted before Derby's League Cup fourth-round tie with loud applause by the home fans.

Several times during the game, which ended 3-2 at Chelsea, Blues fans chanted Lampard's name before they – along with Derby fans – gave him a huge round of applause after the final whistle the 40-year-old took a turn around the pitch.

Lampard admited afterwards he had been "nervous" and excited to return to Chelsea, but he did not know what he was doing.

Speaking to reporters at Stamford Bridge, Lampard said: "I've got a job to do, I'm really enjoying the fans, and saying thank you at the end.

"I did not leave you here, but I was disappointed." But I walked to the front door here and got that. I thanked the fans for their support of 13 years, and then walked to the Derby fans, my present .

"We're working hard to be successful as a club.

"I wore it up in the past, but it was not exciting for me, but it was a long time ago.

"I've been happy to come back and see a lot of friends." "I'm so excited about the fans of both clubs, and pride in the team.

Chelsea made the unusual step of permitting Fikayo Tomori and Mason in their development at Derby.

Tomori had the worst possible start, however, after he had a last minute of self-determination, creating Martyn Waghorn's 27th-minute goal which restored parity for the visitors until Cesc Fabregas scored the winner not long afterwards.

Despite the pressure of Tomori and Mount playing against their parent club at Stamford Bridge, Lampard believes the pair were "huge" on the night.

"[It wasn’t] Great for Fik in the first four minutes, but to deal with an own goal after that, his character was huge, "Lampard said.

"He and Richard [Keogh] have been huge all season. This is not a game for Mason to run against him Chelsea, against [N’Golo] Kante, [Mateo] Kovavic and [Cesc] Fabregas.

"But he was asked to produce moments, and he did it for the second goal."

Lampard added: "We competed in. Generally teams that go 1-0 down after five minutes lose comfortably here and we came back.

"Then their third goal was a foul In general play, we had the best chances in the game Outstanding from my team I'm proud of them It does not feel like a defeat, but it's a benchmark for how we want to play from now on in. "