Chelsea's 5 best midfielders since 2000

Strikers get the songs and goalkeepers get the saves, but Chelsea’s best years since the turn of the century were won in the middle of the pitch. This is my ranking of the five midfielders who powered our league and European success.

I’ve judged them on three things: trophies, consistency, and what they did when the big games came round. It’s a personal list and I’m standing by it. If you want the other ends of the pitch, we’ve already covered our best goalkeepers and Didier Drogba’s best Chelsea goals, so I’m not repeating any of that here.

5. Cesc Fàbregas

Fifth place goes to a different kind of midfielder. Cesc Fàbregas was the passer in a team that already had plenty of engine, and he made us a more creative side.

By the time he left Chelsea, he had won two Premier League titles, an FA Cup and a League Cup, according to a Sportskeeda list. That is a proper return from a player who arrived to supply the final ball.

He sits at the bottom of this list because I can’t point to the same weight of numbers or defining nights as the four above him. A fifth place is still a compliment. He won things with us, and he did it with real quality.

4. Michael Essien

Chelsea signed Michael Essien from Lyon, with the deal completed on 19 August 2005. At the time he was the most expensive signing in the club’s history, and he played like a man who knew it.

Sportsmole lists him on 256 appearances and 25 goals for Chelsea. For a player whose first job was to win the ball and drive us forward, that is a serious return. The Premier League’s archive credits him with FA Cups, a League Cup and the 2011/12 Champions League. He was part of the group that finally got us the big one.

Injuries cost him a place higher up this list. He spent 2012/13 on loan at Real Madrid and moved permanently to AC Milan in January 2014. At his best, nobody in the league ran through a midfield like Essien.

3. Claude Makélélé

Claude Makélélé spent five seasons at Chelsea, from 2003 to 2008, before leaving for Paris Saint-Germain. He won the Premier League in 2005 and 2006 under José Mourinho. That is the whole case, and it is a strong one.

Look at what the 2004–05 side did. We won the league with 95 points and conceded only 15 league goals. Those numbers are absurd. A defence gets the credit for that, but the man sitting in front of it deserves his share.

He never scored the goals people remember, and he never needed to. He gave the team its shape and let everyone else play. I put him third because the team around him was brilliant, but it worked in large part because of him.

2. N’Golo Kanté

N’Golo Kanté joined us after a Leicester City title season in which he played in 37 of their 38 Premier League matches. He then spent seven seasons at Chelsea before leaving in June 2023 for Al-Ittihad.

Look at the trophy list. At Chelsea he won the Premier League, the Champions League, the Europa League, the UEFA Super Cup, the FIFA Club World Cup and the FA Cup. That is a complete set of medals for one midfielder.

Chelsea’s own review of 2021/22 shows he made 42 appearances overall that season, 26 of them in the Premier League. That tells you how much we needed him when he was fit. I can’t put him above the next man on longevity or goals, but on pure impact in big games he is hard to beat.

1. Frank Lampard

It had to be Frank. He is Chelsea’s all-time leading scorer with 211 goals, and he got there from midfield, which still sounds unreal. He passed Bobby Tambling’s club record of 202 goals in May 2013.

He also played more than almost anyone. Only Ron Harris, Peter Bonetti and John Terry have made more appearances for the club. A source credits him with three Premier League titles, four FA Cups and the 2012 Champions League at Chelsea. The Premier League inducted him into its Hall of Fame, and its profile lists the three titles.

Trophies, consistency and big-match impact: Lampard is the only one who tops all three. If you want more, read Frank Lampard: The Journey of a Chelsea Legend and our farewell to Frank.

The engine room

Take these five together and you see how we won. Goals from midfield, a shield in front of the defence, power and legs, and trophies at the end of it. The standards they set are the ones every Chelsea midfielder is measured against today.

Who would you pick? Have I got the order wrong? Tell me. For more on our greats, head to the Blog page.