Chelsea great Frank Lampard has urged the club's owners to be 'patient' with their new manager, Enzo Maresca.

According to Lampard, there is still a difference between Chelsea and teams such as Manchester City and Arsenal in the Premier League rankings.

The former England international hopes Chelsea's owners will allow Maresca to build on the 'good' foundation built by former manager Mauricio Pochettino.
Chelsea recently appointed Maresca to replace Pochettino after finishing sixth last season.

When asked about the Italian's appointment, Lampard told talkSPORT: "It was nice to see a positive end to the season."

"I was there at the back-end of the previous season and I knew it was going to be a challenging build and a difficult assignment because with where the club was at and the distance now to the top clubs.

"And I believe there is still a gap, so you must be patient and let the new manager to do his job, assess the group, potentially change the squad, and bring players in.

"We will see how they go next year but they definitely finished on a positive note which was good to see."