Four points from five games, and Frank Lampard is under pressure and looking upwards for answers.

Monday’s 1-1 draw with Aston Villa at the Bridge was simply not good enough after defeat to Arsenal on Boxing Day, and the Blues are on the slide.

Now the second wave of Covid is washing fixtures away, and with Chelsea’s next two opponents – Man City and Morecambe – battling outbreaks, uncertainty reigns. The Cobham training ground has already had to deal with coronavirus hitting the women’s team and youth squad, but now it’s also having to cope with a major confidence crisis among the men.

Monday night’s home game against Villa saw Chelsea largely dominate (16 attempts on goal to Villa’s 10), but fail to press home the advantage of an Olivier Giroud goal after 34 minutes. When Anwar El Ghazi equalised in the second half, the Blues still looked capable of winning, but the chances ebbed away.

So what has gone wrong for a team that, three weeks ago, was poised to go top? The problem seems to be that the Blues had started to believe all the hype.

Instead of driving forward and maintaining their good run of form, too many players have sat back and relaxed, with Lampard (pictured, right, looking understandably pensive at the Emirates with Chelsea 3-0 down in the second half) having to shoulder the blame for allowing it to happen.

Even the seemingly dependable keeper Eddie Mendy has lost focus, with the only outfield players to emerge from this difficult Christmas spell with any credit being Giroud and Mason Mount.

Timo Werner has lost his mojo, while Kai Havertz has still not found his. A December dip is something past Chelsea managers have had to deal with, and Lampard knows he has to regain the defensive strength the team had before the wheels came off. If the back line is short of belief, the midfield suffers too.

The next few weeks will be difficult ones for the country, and sport will be dislocated as well. It’s time for players with time on their hands to take a long, hard look at themselves, and for the manager to read the riot act to those who are underperforming.