Frank Lampard explains how Fabregas' arrival ended his Chelsea career

What's the story?

The rivalry between Chelsea and Arsenal has become one of the Premier League's most exciting fixtures since Chelsea's rise to prominence in the 2000s. The London derby has been classified by animosity between many individuals, most notably Wenger and Mourinho, who are about as amicable as the Montagues and the Capulets.

Another famous beef from this rivalry is the one between Cesc Fabregas and Frank Lampard, which was just one bad tackle away from resurfacing every time the two faced off against each other. However, in spite of Lampard retiring from professional football and Fabregas moving to Chelsea, it appears that there is still some lingering resentment between the two. According to the Sun, Lampard recently stated that his exit from Chelsea was precipitated by Fabregas' arrival during an interview with BT Sport.

In case you didn't know...

Cesc Fabregas and Frank Lampard first squared off against each other in the 2007 Carling Cup final. A fight broke out during the game which was instigated Kolo Toure and John Obi Mikel. Lampard and Fabregas were two of the closest players at the time of the incident, and both of them rushed over to sort out the situation.

However, Fabregas, with absolutely no regard for tact or decency, decided that the best way to calm down an irate Frank Lampard would be to put his arm around Lampard's throat and attempt to drag him to the ground. Obviously, this did not go down well with the rest of the Chelsea team and a brawl broke out which resulted in the sending off of Toure, Mikel and Emmanuel Adebayor.

Since then Fabregas and Lampard have come up against each other on many occasions, with the most notable being the 2012 Champions League quarter-final match-up between Chelsea and Barcelona. Fabregas was closely marked by Lampard in the match and was on the receiving end of a couple of feisty tackles.

The heart of the matter

Frank Lampard was mistakenly asked about his playing time alongside Cesc Fabregas at Chelsea during an appearance on BT Sport, and the Englishman replied by saying that they had never even trained together.

"We never played together! They let me go to get Cesc in. Me and Cesc never really got on well on the pitch so they didn’t think we could share a dressing room." - Lampard

The Chelsea legend left Chelsea on 3 June 2014, 13 years after joining them from West Ham. Just nine days after the club announced that Lampard would be departing, the arrival of Fabregas was confirmed for a fee of around €33 million.

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Author's Take

Frank Lampard still holds a lot of sway among Chelsea fans, who revere the midfielder for his footballing ability. He has also stated that he would like to return to Chelsea in a coaching capacity at some point in the future. Perhaps it would be best for the two to publicly quash this beef before it is exacerbated by factors outside of their control.