Former Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard has stated that the Blues will recover from their slow start to the Premier League season.

The defending champions sit 13th in the table after winning two of their opening six games, with their latest success coming against Arsenal on Saturday.

Lampard has suggested that the experience of manager Jose Mourinho will soon see the West Londoners challenging at the top again.

"They started slow but they beat Arsenal recently so that gives them a bit more mentally and I think they'll come back into the race," the 37-year-old told ESPN.

"I think sometimes when you win a league, you put a lot of effort into it over a year like they did comfortably last year. I think they may have had a second-season syndrome, which Man City have had twice now actually when they've won it. I know Jose Mourinho and I know the pressure at Chelsea, they want themselves to be challenging every year. So I think it will be addressed very quickly, if it hasn't already.

"We all have patches, unfortunately, when you have patches at the start of the season, it makes the table look really bad early on but I think they'll change that because they still have the same quality of player there."

Chelsea face Newcastle United on Saturday.