A breakdown of Lampard's double-century

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Frank Lampard yesterday again underlined the fact he is the greatest player in the history of Chelsea Football Club - this time by netting his 200th Blues goal.

A further two goals will see the England midfielder equal the legendary Bobby Tambling's club-record haul of 202; a third strike before the season's climax, however, would see Lampard assert himself as the Blues' out-and-out top goalscorer, despite playing from midfield.

Lampard attributes his incredible goal-getting ability to his fitness - and the Blues star's 200th goal came in his 595th competitive match for the club, at a record just better than one in every three games.

It may be twice an irony that his double-tonne came against first his former employers, West Ham United (whose own fans celebrated when the young star broke his leg at the turn of the century), and was scored with a firmly-planted header; somewhat of a rarity for our number 8.

Indeed, Lampard's headed effort in front of the Shed End on Sunday was only his seventeenth headed goal for the club, working out at just 8.5% of his total Chelsea goal tally. As you would expect, it is with his right foot that he has been most prolific with, netting 81% (162) of his goals for the club with his preferred foot.

Having taken 54 penalties in regulation time (ergo, excluding penalty shoot-outs) and scoring 47 (at a conversion rate of 0.87), it perhaps comes as no surprise that one of the Chelsea man's most frequent goal-types is from the spot. But here we dispel one of the great Frank Lampard myths; only 23.5% of his 200 goals have come from the spot, meaning the rest have all come from either free-kick scenarios, or from open play.

"He only scores deflected goals" is the cry from many a jealous rival fan. Again, incorrect. In 2006, the Guardian published an article suggesting that only 8% (a poultry six) of his then 73 goals for the club had been deflected. Taking the next 127 goals into account, only nine of these were deflected efforts - meaning a grand total of fifteen (7.5%) of Frank Lampard's goals for Chelsea have been deviated by a deflection. Even if you take his 47 penalties out of the equation, fifteen deflections from 153 still means that Lampard nets 10.2 "clean" strikes for every one deflected effort - so stick that in your pipe and smoke it.

Lampard's proficiency in front of goal also produces a stunning statistic: 59% of his efforts on goal are on target. And when does Lampard most often profit with a goalscoring return? The answer is between the 75th minute and the full-time whistle, where he has scored on 46 occasions. More startlingly, however, 29 of these 46 goals in the last fifteen minutes have been game-winning efforts (as defined by him netting the second goal in a 2-1 win, for instance, rather than merely the third in a 3-0 win, etc.)!

But despite his trademark late, late show, Frank has also been the opening scorer for the Blues on 41 different occasions, and in 30 different matches has he been the sole Chelsea goalscorer (this includes games where has has scored multiple goals; most famously in that 2-0 win at the Reebok Stadium over Bolton Wanderers in 2005...).

And speaking of Bolton, they - along with Aston Villa - are Lampard's favourite opponents. Having netted a dozen times against both, it means that the Trotters and the Villains are responsible for 24 goals of his double-century. Blackburn and Portsmouth are his next-favourite opponents (having scored ten times against both), whilst he has been the scourge of rivals Fulham and Tottenham (9 goals each), Liverpool and Manchester City (7 goals), Manchester United (6 goals), and Arsenal and West Ham United (5 goals) on multiple occasions - at the same time as ruffling the feathers of some of Europe's big guns (he has three goals apiece against Barcelona and Bayern Munich).

Besides the Blues' main domestic rivals, he also has enjoyed success against Everton with nine goals, Sunderland and Wigan (seven) and Newcastle, Southampton, and West Brom (six) in particular. All in all, Lampard has scored against 52 different clubs (as arranged by the number of times he has scored against them):

• Aston Villa (12)
  
• Bolton Wanderers
  
• Blackburn Rovers (10)
  
• Portsmouth
  
• Everton (9)
  
• Fulham
  
• Tottenham Hotspur
  
• Liverpool (7)
  
• Manchester City
  
• Sunderland
  
• Wigan Athletic
  
• Manchester United (6)
  
• Newcastle United
  
• Southampton
  
• West Bromwich Albion
  
• Arsenal (5)
  
• Stoke City
  
• West Ham
  
• Derby County (4)
  
• Norwich City
  
• Barcelona (3)
  
• Bayern Munich
  
• Charlton Athletic
  
• Ipswich Town
  
• Leicester City
  
• Macclesfield Town
  
• Reading
  
• Wolverhampton Wanderers
  
• Birmingham City (2)
  
• Blackpool
  
• Huddersfield Town
  
• Lazio
  
• Watford
  
• Wycombe Wanderers
  
• Anderlecht (1)
  
• Atlético Madrid
  
• Benfica
  
• Bordeaux
  
• Brentford
  
• Crystal Palace
  
• Fenerbahce
  
• Hull City
  
• Leeds United
  
• Levski Sofia
  
• Middlesbrough
  
• AS Monaco
  
• Napoli
  
• Olympiacos
  
• Sheffield United
  
• Southend United
  
• Valencia C.F.
  
• Viking Stavanger
  

So we know who he loves scoring against - but what is his favourite goalscoring stomping ground? Well, besides the Bridge - obviously - where has has scored an incredible 115 times, Lampard's next-favourite place to score a goal or two is, quite fittingly, the Reebok Stadium (seven goals). Goodison Park ranks third on the list, where he has registered five strikes (including two this season). Lampard is also partial to visit to Wembley, where he has scored on four different visits.

As the Blues' all-time top goalscorer in the league with 138 and in the FA Cup with a phenomenal 26, Lampard will surely go down as one of the Chelsea greats. But with Bobby Tambling's record in his sights and a potential 15 games remaining this season (based on Europa League and FA Cup progression to the Amsterdam ArenA and Wembley finals), time is surely on Frank's side as he guns for immortality in the blue of Chelsea.

Manchester United may already have the league already wrapped up according the most sports.bwin.com/premier-league and the indignity of losing to Swansea in the League Cup semi-finals isn't something that will be quickly remedied; but a top-three finish and a piece of silverware would be a welcome return in this season of transition. And you'd certainly back Lampard to have his say as the Blues go out on a three-pronged-assault in the FA Cup, the Europa League and the Premier League.

He isn't called Super Frank for nothing!

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[Milan 17,955]

Alex talks numbers! Amazing stats and some really interesting and new to me, like the last 15 minutes, so big thanks!

I still think if he played for another club, read Man United, or if it was another player, read England favourites, there would be way more headlines and way more attention.

[Kieran. 6,317]

Sorry for calling you names when you were rude to AVB, Frank.

[Spike 12,049]

Sorry for calling you names when you were rude to AVB, Frank.

Got caught up in the heat and emotion of things, eh? A lot of people did that though...

[Kieran. 6,317]

Got caught up in the heat and emotion of things, eh? A lot of people did that though...

Term_X said he was no longer a legend and I agreed with him! Shameful...

[Term-X 7,891]

Term_X said he was no longer a legend and I agreed with him! Shameful...

I never said that.

Lamps was public enemy number 1 at that time though, and without 'heat of the moment' posts, forums (in general) would cease to exist.

[Spike 12,049]

I think the only thing I did around that time was change my avatar from a Lampsy one to another unrelated picture. I think I was in the anti-AVB camp.

Why do West Spammers hate Lampard so much?

[BleedsBlue 1,549]

This article is as great as the player.Nice work Alex.

[Kieran. 6,317]

I never said that.

Lamps was public enemy number 1 at that time though, and without 'heat of the moment' posts, forums (in general) would cease to exist.

Lol. Ok.

[The only place to be 11,313]

Good article It's that stat about first or only goals in matches that's always astounded me. He scores important goals in matches, and that's what you'd have thought we might struggle to replace but Juan Mata seems to have stepped up in that regard.

If Lamps does leave this season, then it's arguably as poetic a way to go out as Drogba's was in May.

[juko 19]

who cares

[BlueLion. 21,491]

^ good post!

[Hutcho 8,443]

who cares

Pretty much everyone!

[Rmpr 8,977]

I dont want to be rude or anything, but it got much better without the photos! Great Article!

[Santiago. 1,500]

First League goal