Chelsea boss Frank Lampard has defended his mega spending ahead of today's clash with Liverpool.

Lampard admits he feels a squad needs refreshing regularly - even after just the one season.

"When we could not do much business last summer, we also lost probably the best player in the Premier League [in Eden Hazard], who in the modern market with years on his contract would have been a £200 million pound player at that time," Lampard points out.

"It is not just Man United who have spent money since then, there are teams around us, Tottenham, Arsenal, who spent last summer, spent in January and are spending again. So the competition always remains strong.

"A squad remaining the same for two or three windows generally is not a positive thing, we have seen it with other clubs where if you don't make that freshness and changes and strive for improvement then it can be very hard to keep moving forward.

"I think we did address it this summer but I would be pretty naïve to think that does not change any outlook in terms of expectation. It has to change it, we have to want to improve and close the gap upwards on Liverpool and Manchester City. We also look around us and see Arsenal improving and Tottenham with a front three, if Gareth Bale comes along, that will be very dangerous.

"So there are lots of teams that are trying to do the same as us. I don't want to get too caught up in the expectations, my biggest expectations are what I put on myself from what I can work on with this squad, which I am very confident in now.

"It has to be a game-by-game mindset. We have a win over Brighton and now we are playing the champions, so can we get a win over them and move forward in that direction to try to gain confidence."