Curtis Davies was surprised to hear the news of Frank Lampard's sacking at Chelsea, and has backed the 42-year-old to endure success elsewhere.

Lampard was sacked by Chelsea on Monday afternoon, despite overseeing his side's 3-1 victory over Luton Town in the FA Cup at the weekend.

Thomas Tuchel is set to replace Lampard in the Stamford Bridge dugout, with the latter being sacked after an 18-month tenure of the Rams.

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Lampard became Chelsea boss in July 2019, two months after guiding Derby County to the Championship play-off final in what was his first spell in management.

Davies played under Lampard, featuring only five times for the Rams under the former England midfielder as Richard Keogh and Fikayo Tomori established themselves as first-choice central defenders.

Speaking to talkSPORT, Davies has backed Lampard to succeed elsewhere, and was left surprised by news of his sacking.

He said: "I was quite shocked it came after a win [against Luton in the FA Cup]. I was quite surprised. What happens is sometimes when somebody like Thomas Tuchel is available, there’s a short time to snap him up and I think Chelsea have pulled the trigger now to make sure they get his services.

"The way Frank’s taken to management straight away, the fact that he went from Derby to Chelsea straight away was a massive jump. For him, a person that will back himself, he believes he’s a winner, he was a serial winner as a player, so I think he’ll want to jump back on it and prove people wrong and show how good he is.

"He’s got a lot to offer. Him and Jody [Morris] were brilliant when I was at Derby so hopefully they’ll be someone else’s gain.”

Davies has featured 13 times for Derby this season, but the 35-year-old is currently out injured with an Achilles problem.

The Verdict

I don't think Lampard will have any regrets about leaving Derby for Chelsea, despite his recent sacking.

He left Derby in a good place, and from a personal point of view, it would have been a honour for him to manage the club he played so many times for and had great success with.

He did a great job in terms of developing younger players last season, and he should hold his head high.