Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard has put his Chelsea goalscoring form down to being dropped earlier in the season.

Lampard scored his seventh goal of the season to earn his side a 1-0 win over Blackburn at Ewood Park on Saturday.

The England international's Chelsea future was questioned when he was left out against Swansea on 24 September.

"Being left out of the team spurred me on," Lampard told BBC Radio 5 live. "The minute you're taken out of the team people talk."

Lampard's winner at Blackburn was his sixth league goal of the campaign and ended his club's two-match losing run in the league.

He is confident of bettering last season's tally of 15 goals for club and country after admitting a spell on the sidelines made him work harder.

"I trained hard and I've won my place back in the team," he added.

Lampard is hoping Chelsea can kick-on after returning to winning ways against struggling Blackburn.

It was hardly a vintage Chelsea performance but it helped erase some of the memories of the 5-3 home defeat to Arsenal on 29 October.

"Blackburn was a big game for us, and a tough one for us on paper. I'm very pleased we got the three points, albeit not at our best," added Lampard.

"We had to address the manner we lost the Arsenal game. We have to press better and not give people space. You can see the benefit, in that we kept a clean sheet."

Lampard had special praise for keeper Petr Cech, who played for most of the game with a broken nose after a collision with Ashley Cole and Blackburn striker Yakubu.

"He took a hell of a whack," added Lampard.

"I looked over at him at one point and his eyes were watering. He's certainly been in the wars."