Frank Lampard broke a long Premier League scoreless streak with a brace against his former club on Saturday, so he's naturally in a pretty good mood. Better still, the switch to the 4-3-3 put him back into his best position and, not-coincidentally, allowed him to make a positive mark on the game rather than stand around looking a bit lost.
Are performances like that going to have the 35-year-old looking beyond the close of the 2013/14 season? Perhaps not:
[Do I think about the future?] No, I don’t any more. It is season by season for me. I feel fit and strong. I am enjoying playing pretty regularly at the minute and if I can show that I am good enough to carry on playing then I will try to do that.
Having been at Chelsea for 13 years now, I can’t quite see myself playing in the Premier League anywhere else. Anywhere in England really. If I can keep contributing here... I don’t want to be a passenger, sitting on the bench and not doing much, even in my older years. So, as I said, I will take it year by year.
-Source: GetWestLondon.co.uk.
Lampard has been a divisive figure this season -- he's been alternating between 'ok' and 'awful' in the double pivot, and the latter displays have understandably caused no little rancor amongst fans. I can't imagine that Lampard's been pleased with himself either, and while a good performance against a weak opponent is not much more than a good sign, it's still a good sign for the midfielder in a season that's been rather short on good signs.
I'm not sure what it'll take for Lampard to feel like he has the ability to come back, but I'd be surprised if his standards are very far off what the fans want to see. If he keeps playing like he did over the weekend, he's probably in with a shout. If he doesn't... there's a reason that Dan Levene's linked piece is headlined 'This may be my last season'.