John Terry believes his Chelsea team-mate Frank Lampard is the best midfielder in the country.
The England international continues to be a driving force for the Blues in the middle of the park, and grabbed a sublime chip during a comfortable 3-0 win over Hull on Wednesday.
He has been an integral part of the Chelsea side for seven years, blossoming into one of Europe's finest talents.
Terry has played alongside Lampard throughout his Stamford Bridge career and feels the 30-year-old is now in a class of his own when compared to his Premier League rivals.
Unbelievable
"Frank does it season after season," declared Terry.
"He is different class. In training he is unbelievable and he works so hard on his shooting and his running off the ball.
"We will do a warm-down and he will be doing laps around the field on his own. He is an inspiration to everyone in the team to really push on and give it everything in our short careers."
The midweek win at KC Stadium coincided with Terry celebrating 10 years as a member of the Blues' first-team fold.
The Chelsea skipper was delighted to celebrate that achievement with an emphatic success and has urged his team-mates to carry that form into the rest of the campaign.
"It was a great way to celebrate the anniversary," said Terry.
Upbeat
"It's been 10 years since my debut but first and foremost I am delighted to bounce back from the disappointment of last weekend (losing 1-0 to Liverpool).
"I was disappointed after the game but we went into training on the Monday and it was up to me, Frank Lampard, the backbone of the side, to get the lads going again.
"What was good to see is the lads didn't come in moping about, everyone came in upbeat and eager to play against Hull.
"We showed against Hull how resilient we can be and this is why we are a top team. All the best sides have the ability to bounce back after drawing or losing a game.
"We can grind out results and we need to maintain that because Liverpool are playing especially well above us and Manchester United are looking good also."
Contenders
Meanwhile, Lampard expects Luiz Felipe Scolari's side to bounce back from losing their 86-game unbeaten record at Stamford Bridge by mounting a serious title charge.
"You don't win medals for your home records, you win medals for winning leagues," he said in the Daily Star.
"We're mature enough and certainly experienced enough from our last four of five years contending for the title to know that if you lose a game after nine games of the season, it's certainly far from over.
"You sit back and reflect on it and realise a lot can be done to rectify it.
"Maybe some people made an issue out of it but we're only three points behind (leaders Liverpool) and there are many games to go."
do you not think its classless for the captain of England to come out with such statements when theres players as good as lampard or better, around?
he's abusing the position of power he is in with crap like this, the real football supporters will know lampard is not the best midfielder in england.
no really 
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