Frank Lampard took over as Chelsea caretaker manager last month (Picture: Getty)

Gary Neville claims Frank Lampard ‘doesn’t like’ his Chelsea players and says the summer break cannot come soon enough for the Stamford Bridge club.

Chelsea failed to dampen Manchester City’s title celebrations on Sunday as they were beaten 1-0 by the Premier League champions at the Etihad Stadium.

It was Chelsea’s 15th defeat of a torrid season and leaves the Blues 12th in the table – 45 points behind Man City and 12 points above the relegation zone.

Chelsea finished third last season and reached two domestic cup finals under Thomas Tuchel.

But the German – now at Bayern Munich – was sacked at the start of the campaign and his replacement, ex-Brighton boss Graham Potter, won just 12 of his 31 games in charge before also being axed.

Chelsea’s owners decided to bring back club legend Frank Lampard as caretaker manager until the end of the season but he too has struggled, winning just one out of nine games during his second spell in the Stamford Bridge hot-seat.

Lampard cut a frustrated figure for much of Chelsea’s defeat to Manchester City at the weekend and Neville claims it is obvious that he ‘doesn’t like’ his players.

The Blues lost to Premier League champions Manchester City on Sunday (Picture: Getty)

‘Every time I look at Frank Lampard he’s got a look of a manager who doesn’t like his players,’ the Manchester United legend told Sky Sports. ‘Chelsea need the end of the season, badly.’

Asked what changes incoming manager Mauricio Pochettino needs to implement at Stamford Bridge, Neville added: ‘I think he needs to change these players’ mentality from where it has been for the last few months.

‘Then he needs to hope the break they get in the summer gives them a rest mentally to come back fresh next season under the new manager.’

Lampard admits Chelsea’s next manager has ‘a lot of work to do’ and suggested he had issues with the current squad, describing it as ‘imbalanced’ following the Man City defeat.

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‘The Premier League is getting tougher, we’ve felt that this year and we’ve felt things we need to improve for next year,’ he said.

‘There’s a lot of work to be done. There’s clearly talent in the squad, making a lack of stability in the squad, maybe an imbalance in the squad.

‘So those things are maybe club issue and every player needs to really get the work on to see if they can get us back to where we want to be.’

Lampard has two more games in charge of Chelsea, with the Blues visiting Manchester United on Thursday night and then playing host to Newcastle United on the final day of the season.