Ill Lampard likely to miss farewell

Frank Lampard may have already played his final match for Chelsea after Jose Mourinho revealed the midfielder is a major doubt for tomorrow’s Premier League finale at Cardiff.

Lampard, who is 36 in June, is out of contract at the end of the campaign alongside captain John Terry and Ashley Cole, a trio who have been mainstays at Chelsea for eight years and more.

“Frank Lampard is ill, he is in bed,” Mourinho said.

“If he is in bed on Friday, I don’t think on Saturday he is coming in a condition to travel or to play.”

Lampard is Chelsea’s record goalscorer, with 209 goals in 646 appearances since his 2001 move from West Ham.

Asked to reflect on Lampard’s distinguished career at Stamford Bridge, Mourinho added: “Maybe in a few years he will have a statue where Peter Osgood is, by his side.

“He’s one of the biggest players [in the history] of this club.”

Terry is also doubtful — with “a little thing” picked up on Thursday — but has begun negotiations over a possible new contract and his form this season suggests the Blues would like to keep him.

England left-back Cole appears on the verge of an exit after being a peripheral figure this term.

Mourinho, who will provide a report to the Chelsea hierarchy at the end of the campaign, was unable to provide an update on the futures of the trio.

Asked if their Chelsea careers would end at the season’s conclusion, Mourinho said: “I don’t know. But I don’t think so. The club knows my opinion. The players know my opinion too.”

Despite finishing the season without silverware — Chelsea’s first trophyless campaign since 2010-11 — Mourinho reflected on a “positive” return.

“By the competitive aspect I think it was an evolution,” Mourinho said. “Some of the players had for the first time that experience of fighting for the title, until it was not possible, and fighting for the Champions League, playing Champions League knockout phase, quarter-finals, semi-finals.

“This is not the kind of season that Chelsea celebrates, because this is Chelsea’s nature and my nature.”

Meanwhile, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says the buck stops with him following Cardiff’s relegation.

The Bluebirds’ immediate return to the Championship was confirmed by a 3-0 defeat against Newcastle last weekend, making Chelsea’s visit a dead rubber.

Solskjaer took over as boss in January after chairman Vincent Tan dispensed with Malky Mackay’s services, but he was unable to inspire a climb out of the bottom three, and Cardiff face Chelsea as the league’s bottom team.

“I am the manager. I will take the blame,” Solskjaer said. “I didn’t make the impact on the results I hoped for. I came in hoping to make a difference and we could move up the table, but it didn’t happen.