ORIOL Romeu has backed his former Chelsea teammate, Frank Lampard, to do a “great job” managing the Stamford Bridge side.

The two midfielders played together when Romeu joined the Blues for £4m from Barcelona back in 2011.

Lampard returned to Chelsea this summer to take over from former boss Maurizio Sarri, having spent last season in charge of Derby County.

His year-long spell at the Rams saw them knock Saints out of the FA Cup back in January after forcing a replay.

Speaking about Lampard, Romeu said: “He was such a good player and a good professional.

“It’s good to see him doing that role there because he was a good leader and an amazing professional.

“As a player, I don’t think there is much else to say because we all know what he did and how good he was.

“Now, as a manager, I think he can also step in and do a great job.”

Lampard has an indifferent start to life as Chelsea’s boss.

He had a nightmare start on the opening day of the Premier League season when they handed a 4-0 drubbing by Manchester United at Old Trafford.

Their first win of the campaign came on the road against newly-promoted Norwich, with goals coming from Tammy Abraham and Mason Mount.

Due to their transfer embargo, Lampard has had to put his faith in youngsters, although his record at Derby suggests he would have done that anyway.

And Romeu, who is eager for Saints to respond to the defeat against ten-man Tottenham, thinks the St Mary’s side will have the opportunity to take advantage of Chelsea’s mixed start.

“I think Chelsea have started with ups and downs, so we want to make them have a tough day,” added the former Barcelona man.

“I think, if we keep playing in this way, we will have our chances. We need to believe in ourselves.

“We want to start getting points against big teams like we did last season and I’m pretty sure this is a very, very good chance to do this against them.”

Although Romeu is viewing the opportunity of playing against a more inexperienced Chelsea, the threat of the unknown is something he wants to make sure Saints control.

He added: “We have seen both faces from Chelsea this season.

“We don’t know what’s going to come but if we start well and put pressure on them, then we will have an easier day.

“But if we let them believe and let them play, then it’s going to be tough for us.”

One criticism labelled at Saints’ performances in the Premier League over recent weeks is that they’ve struggled to find a clinical edge in front of goal.

This was evident against Spurs on Saturday where they were unable to take advantage of having an extra man on the pitch.

However, instead of lamenting their form in front of goal, Romeu believes they are playing better football now compared to the start of the season.

“I think it’s more down to having that momentum as we had a few weeks ago, we didn’t deserve a lot, but we got points.,” explained the midfielder.

“Now, we are playing a bit better, but we aren’t scoring goals. That’s sometimes down to having those crucial moments go for your side.

“Against Tottenham, when we were attacking their goal after scoring our first, they scored their second right before half time which was really hard.

“We still pushed and there are things to improve but, for example, we played much better here than we did against Brighton.

“We didn’t take the three points, but the reaction was better than it was against Brighton.”