Chelsea have a busy summer ahead to ensure Mauricio Pochettino can hit the ground running as Blues boss to ensure the club improve upon 12th position
"I think some have been mindful of that for a while [saying goodbye] and it's been part of the problem," explained the 44-year-old. "It's hard to compete in this league or at this level if some players are in that middle ground and too many are. That's been a thing. Maybe getting to the end of it is a good thing. Whoever is emotional or has their eye on somewhere else or whether the club want them to leave or they want to leave. Now we get to the bottom of it quickly."
Lampard and Graham Potter have pointed to issues in pre-season when searching for an explanation for Chelsea's underperformance in the Premier League. There were issues around the travelling schedule, the facilities and more when the Blues toured the USA in 2022 but also difficulties with the make up of the squad.
The likes of Michy Batshuayi, Marcos Alonso, Ross Barkley, Emerson Palmieri and Kenedy were all on the trip and all eventually departed the club. Alonso and Barkley left for free but it was the end of the transfer window before they departed, having spent all of pre-season and more under Thomas Tuchel.
Following the game, he said: "I saw today a team in Arsenal who are mentally committed to an idea of playing, a level of exhaustion, a level of physical commitment that we could not match. Also, a level of mental commitment that we lacked because we have a lot of players who are thinking about leaving and looking at their options. We have players that have left and I think at the moment that's obvious."
It is a situation Chelsea must avoid falling into again. The Blues already have a squad in excess of 30 with a swathe of loan players to return. As Lampard noted, situations must be resolved quickly. Then, Pochettino can drive a committed squad further.