The England midfielder believes he has just completed the best season of his career with the Blues and netted 20-plus goals for the fourth successive campaign.

Lampard, currently preparing for Saturday's World Cup qualifier in Kazhakstan, will be 31 later this month but has shown no signs of his powers diminishing and hopes he has still to reach his peak.

He said: "I have been lucky, I have stayed away from injuries. I've got an aim to keep getting better and better as a player and keep my levels as high as I want them to be.

"I think I've just had my best ever season but I don't know when the peak will be. I hope it is still to come. I hope the peak will be over the following years.

"I see good professionals like Gianfranco Zola have fantastic seasons aged 36-37. That is where I want to be.

"I want to carry on as long as he did. No one can guess the future too much and we are always liable to form and injuries and your legs packing up when you don't expect them to go.

"But the way I feel now, the way I want to lead my life and train and play, I see myself playing for quite a long time, to the stage Gianfranco did.

"And, when I get to that stage, I want to be involved in helping younger players in the team and be a big part of the future."

Lampard puts down his current top form down to benefiting from the experiences of a decade in the top flight with West Ham and now Chelsea.

He said: "I have become more experienced. I have learnt the right times to shoot more, rather than to try and put people in. But my assists tally has also been much higher this year than in the past.

"That has come from experience. I don't want to blow my own trumpet. Over the season I have worked hard to keep my standard high and I've just become a bit more aware of things around me."

Lampard is relishing the prospect of working with Carlo Ancelotti at Chelsea but insists the revolving managerial door at Stamford Bridge in recent seasons has not been a negative on his own career.

He said: "I haven't seen it as hindrance really. It is par for the course, particularly at Chelsea. As a player, I kind of enjoy the different challenges.

"Every manager I have had at Chelsea as given me another push onto a different level. Claudio Ranieri did it when he first came. Jose Mourinho gave me another push mentally and as a player.

"Avram Grant helped me at a difficult time, Felipe Scolari at a time when it was difficult for me and my career, not knowing where it was going, and it's been the same with Guus Hiddink.

"If you are a strong pro, you don't worry too much about the fact the manager is changing all the time. I think you need to worry about yourself, try and impress the manager, try and learn from the manager."