Frank Lampard insists he doesn't want Chelsea to become known as a development team.

The Blues boss has given eight academy players their first-team debut this season and still lead the team to fourth on the Premier League team.

But the Englishman says experienced heads like Jorginho, Willian and Mateo Kovacic have helped his cause.

He said in Chelsea's magazine: "Along the way, it's been easy to cast your eye at the younger players coming into the team, but I also think some of the performances by the more experienced players in the team – the likes of Kovacic, Jorginho, Willian – I don't have to name them all, but you can go through the squad and there's been some real big plusses out of it.

"I don't want to dwell on it, though, because my next job is to look ahead.

"I don't want us to be a development team, where people talk about our Academy players coming through. I want us to be a team that's looking to bridge the gap going upwards."