Olympique de Marseille were the fall guys on a hectic opening night of Europa League group stage action as German club Eintracht Frankfurt returned from the south of France with a surprise 2-1 victory on Thursday.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
But such was Pep Guardiola's team's domination of the Premier League last season that reinforcements hardly seemed necessary and the solitary addition of Riyad Mahrez makes an already potent attack even more fearsome.
Lampard must re-energise the team to even hold onto Chelsea's tag as best of the rest behind Premier League champions Manchester City and runners-up Liverpool.
Chelsea went second in the Premier League with a comfortable 4-0 win at Burnley, on Sunday, which maintained their unbeaten start to the season.
Juventus, who have won only one of their last five games and have dropped 18 points from winning positions this season, stay on 80 points followed by Atalanta with 74 and Inter Milan on 73 with three games each to play.
The Belgian wizard tormented West Ham throughout and scored both goals to move Chelsea above Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal in the race for a top-four finish.
Napoli could become the first team in Champions League history to qualify from their group after only three games on Wednesday, providing welcome relief from their recent troubles.
Here are five talking points from the weekend's action:
Trailing 1-0 from the semi-final first leg, Chelsea turned the tie on its head with goals by N'Golo Kante and Eden Hazard in the first half but Fernando Llorente struck for Spurs in an enthralling Stamford Bridge duel.
Tottenham Hotspur gained a slender advantage in their League Cup semi-final against London rivals Chelsea as Harry Kane's penalty earned them a gritty 1-0 first-leg win.
News of all that transpired on and off the football field
Napoli went down 3-1 at home to RB Leipzig, Arsenal and AC Milan enjoyed comfortable away wins, and Borussia Dortmund's Michy Batshuayi scored twice to secure a 3-2 victory in Europa League last 32, first leg action
Gonzalo Higuain scored his 30th league goal of the season but was later sent off and had to be restrained by his team mates as Napoli lost 3-1 at Udinese on Sunday, severely denting their Serie A title hopes.
Tottenham Hotspur have shown impressive durability in the Premier League lately, but they will need to be at their most steadfast to deny champions and league leaders Manchester City who travel to Wembley on Monday.
Such is the level of consistency of Manchester City (nine straight wins) and Liverpool (five straight victories), that it can be easy to lose sight of just how good this title race is.
Rewind five years and Liverpool hosted Chelsea with three games remaining, knowing victory would have left them six points clear and a first league title since 1990 almost secure.
United beat Leicester City at Old Trafford in the opening game of the season but Spurs present a very different quality of opponent.
Chelsea beat Arsenal 3-2 in a pulsating London English Premier League derby on Saturday with defender Marcos Alonso scoring an 81st-minute winner after the Gunners had fought back from an early 2-0 deficit.
Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos performed another rescue act to wreck Napoli's brave comeback attempt and take the Champions League title-holders into the quarter-finals.
IMAGES from the EPL matches played on Wednesday
Manchester United have scored 14 goals and earned maximum points from their four matches under interim boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Sarri was without Cristiano Ronaldo for the trip to the Gewiss Stadium as the Portuguese forward recovers from a knee problem ahead of Tuesday's Champions League meeting with Atletico Madrid in Turin.
Chelsea kept up their pursuit of the Premier League's top three clubs with a 1-0 win away to London rivals Crystal Palace on Sunday, thanks to a strike by N'Golo Kante early in the second half.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Hellas Verona produced a huge upset by coming from behind to beat Serie A leaders Juventus 2-1 on Saturday, inflicting a third defeat of the season on the Italian champions. Cristiano Ronaldo set a new Juventus record by scoring in a 10th consecutive league game to put the visitors in front at the Stadio Marc'Antonio Bentegodi after 65 minutes.
Borussia Dortmund snatched a late goal at Atalanta to progress with a 1-1 draw, while AC Milan and Atletico Madrid, both with three-goal leads from the away legs, completed the formality of qualifying with 1-0 wins at home on Thursday.
Italy will even be back to four teams in the Champions League group stage this season -- although that is thanks to a controversial re-formulation of the competition by UEFA rather than a significant improvement in performances by Serie A clubs.
Chelsea's new signing Gonzalo Higuain netted his first two Premier League goals in Chelsea's 5-0 thrashing of Huddersfield Town while Tottenham Hotspur's Son Heung-min struck late for a 1-0 win over Newcastle United as they moved into second place.
Liverpool blew a chance take a vice-like grip on the title race and Chelsea suffered their worst league defeat in 23 years.
Edin Dzeko scored twice to set up a 3-1 win for AS Roma away to Napoli in the battle for second place in Serie A on Saturday and Paulo Dybala also notched up a brace for leaders Juventus in their 2-1 win over Udinese.
Here are five talking points from the weekend's Premier League action:
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field.
Tottenham Hotspur climbed to third with a 3-1 win over Southampton while Chelsea hung on to fourth spot, above Arsenal on goal difference, despite a 2-1 defeat at Wolverhampton Wanderers.
IMAGES from the English Premier League matches played on Sunday
Chelsea's Ruben Loftus-Cheek had a Europa League night to remember by scoring the first hat-trick of his career as the midfielder inspired them to a 3-1 home win over Belarus champions BATE Borisov on Thursday.
Rattled by embarrassing domestic defeats, Chelsea looked jittery before Olivier Giroud settled their nerves with a close range tap-in shortly after halftime at StamfordBridge following good work by N'Golo Kante and Willian in the build-up.
Spaniard Herrera finished off a fine move with a precise header from Pogba's cross just past the half-hour and United's French midfielder scored himself when he nodded powerfully home from a Marcus Rashford delivery before the break.
Knee injuries have sidelined him for large parts of this season, however, and the Belgium international has started only four Premier League games.
Real Madrid defender Nacho was the unlikely hero as they snatched a 1-0 win at Real Valladolid on Sunday to capitalise on Barcelona's defeat at Valencia this weekend and move three points clear of their rivals at the top of La Liga. Serie A leaders Juventus suffered a shock 2-1 defeat at Napoli on Sunday, with coach Maurizio Sarri returning to his former club for the first time, though Cristiano Ronaldo still managed to score for an eighth league game in a row for the visitors.
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