Frank Lampard has dismissed suggestions Chelsea’s squad is past it – and is adamant there is more to come from the Barclays Premier League champions.

Carlo Ancelotti’s men have started the new campaign the way they finished the last one with three successive victories, including 6-0 demolitions of both West Brom and Wigan while they are yet to concede a goal.

Much has been made of the age of the Blues’ senior men, such as Lampard, 32, captain John Terry, 29, and striker Didier Drogba, who will be 33 in March.

However, England midfielder Lampard – who is currently sidelined by a hernia problem which forced him out of tonight’s opening Euro 2012 qualifier against Bulgaria at Wembley (England 1.25, Bulgaria 12.00, draw 5.50 Full Time Result) – rejects any suggestions the Chelsea players are over the hill.

Speaking to the October edition of the club’s official magazine, Lampard declared: “It is a load of rubbish when I hear talk about there only being one or two years left in our spine. This has been going on for a year or so.

Every year I set my goals again, I don’t lose any ambition or drive.

Frank Lampard

“Sometimes that is mind games from other managers or press talk and we proved them wrong last year.

“We have got players here who are experienced and you can’t buy experience in football – look at Didier, he is a specimen and he will overpower any 24 or 25-year-old.

“People have been waxing lyrical about Paul Scholes, and rightly so, because if you take him out of the United team now, they will want to replace him and they probably won’t be able to.”

Lampard may have a trophy cabinet full of honours, but the former West Ham trainee maintains he is hungry for even more success.

“Every year I set my goals again, I don’t lose any ambition or drive,” Lampard insisted.

“I would love to win the Champions League one day, but I would love to win more Premier League titles as well, so it’s quite easy to self-motivate.

“I think also that, the older you get, the more you appreciate what you have got as a footballer.

“I think it’s one of my strong points that I always want to do more because you don’t play forever.

“If I can keep my level up to the way I am playing now I believe I can go on playing for many more years.”

With 14 goals from the opening three Premier League matches, things are certainly going to plan for Chelsea, who saw experienced midfielders Joe Cole and Michael Ballack leave the club on free transfers during the summer.

“I think our game feels more natural now – you can see that from the way we finished last season and started this one,” Lampard reflected.

“Don’t get me wrong, we had difficult moments last season when it wasn’t flowing, but it became more natural to us and after winning the Double and celebrating that, I think we came back here in the summer wanting to step up again to another level.”

Lampard paid tribute to Ancelotti, who delivered the club a historic Double in his first season.

“The manager is very involved – his method, his training, his personality and his calmness is something the players have related to more and more over the last year or so and that’s making us stronger as a unit,” the midfielder said.

You can back Chelsea to win the Premier League 2010/11 at odds of 2.20, while it’s 6.00 for the Blues to win the UEFA Champions League in 2011.

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Paul Scholes has revealed he was considering retirement at Christmas last season after a poor run of form for Manchester United.

Scholes is bang in form at the moment and currently one of the most talked about players in the Premier League.

There has been much talk about Fabio Capello’s attempt to talk him out of international retirement, while successive man-of-the-match performances in the Community Shield and Premier League win over Newcastle confirm the 35-year-old is on top form once more.

Yet, while 2010 will go down as one of Scholes’ best years as a professional, 2009 was one of the worst in his eyes.

“At Christmas last season I did not think I would be playing in this one,” he admitted on MUTV.

“I wasn’t playing well enough.

“The season before last I had an injury for three months and then from Christmas onwards my form wasn’t brilliant. Leading up to Christmas last year it still wasn’t great.

“I wasn’t playing as much as I would have liked but you need to be playing well to get into the team.

“I set myself high standards. I want to feel as though I am contributing to the team. If I am not doing that what is the point of being here.”

Fortunately, Sir Alex Ferguson had other ideas.

The United boss reassured Scholes he was still making a valuable contribution to the Red Devils cause and after taking the club to within a point of what would have his 10th Premier League title, Capello made his move.

Scholes has already admitted he regrets saying no to the under-fire England chief but the summer break has at least kept him fresh ahead of a season in which he again expects to be used sparingly.

“The manager has handled me, Ryan and Gary the same way for the last couple of seasons and I am sure this season will be no different,” added Scholes.

“If I am playing well enough, maybe I will play 25 or 30 games.

“You want to play every game but at our age, you can’t.”

Scholes has now sidelined any talk of retirement and intends to keep going as long as he legs can carry him.

Ferguson recently spoke of the possibility United’s ageing heroes could maintain a career at the highest level until they were 40.

Yet even that date is not too far away, leaving the Salford-born star to contemplate what lies ahead.

“I want to stay in football,” he said.

“I started my coaching badges towards the end of last season. Hopefully I can get the first part done at some point this year.”

Former Hoffenheim goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand has signed a contract with Portuguese giants Sporting until June 2013.

The seven-time Germany international has moved to Portugal on a Bosman transfer after he had cancelled his contract with Hoffenheim in the summer.

Hildebrand, 31, is excited by the challenge of playing for Europa League participants Sporting.

He told Kicker: “I am extremely pleased to see this finally being agreed. I am now aware of my future.

“I am looking forward to representing Sporting. It is a really big club in a good league.”

Hildebrand had joined Hoffenheim on a free transfer from Primera Liga outfit Valencia in January 2009.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic says he was not interested in joining Manchester City this summer as they are not yet ready to challenge for big prizes.

Ibrahimovic joined AC Milan initially on loan with a view to a permanent move last week after an unhappy spell at Barcelona.

City were reported to be interested in signing the Sweden international after Barcelona made it clear they were willing to offload the skilful attacker.

However, Ibrahimovic has hinted he rejected a move to Eastlands with Roberto Mancini’s side still in the early stages of their development.

“City must fight Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal – sides which took years to build,” said Ibrahimovic.

“City are still a side for the future. I chose Milan because they are a team that can win prizes now.

“City can wait for the future but I can’t.”

Ibrahimovic says he had no choice but to leave Barcelona after falling out of favour with coach Pep Guardiola.

“The problems began in March. I asked for an explanation, but he did not give it to me,” added Ibrahimovic.

“I couldn’t take it. I had no choice but to find a new place of work and I was lucky to go to a club like Milan.

“I will soon be 29 years old and cannot afford to lose a year sitting on the bench and watching the weather. I saw what happened last season with Thierry Henry.”

Rochdale chief executive Colin Garlick believes Craig Dawson deserves the opportunity to play at a higher level.

The highly-rated defender has joined West Brom for an undisclosed fee but will spend the remainder of the season on loan at Spotland.

The 20-year-old has attracted admiring glances from a clutch of clubs and Middlesbrough had a bid turned down earlier this summer.

Garlick said: “Realistically we knew that Craig would one day leave the club. Craig himself has been in our thoughts as he has expressed a desire to progress up the football ladder.

“Craig now knows his short and long-term future and thoroughly deserves his opportunity next season to compete at an even higher level of the game.”