Oscar
Oscar scored the winner against Stoke.

Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard has heaped praise on Oscar as the club began life without Juan Mata with a narrow win over Stoke City to reach the FA Cup fifth round.

The Brazilian struck in the first half with a dazzling free-kick to down Stoke at Stamford Bridge, to set up a fifth round meeting against fellow title chasing Manchester City.

The game came less than 24 hours after Mata had completed his move to Manchester United and Oscar, who is charged with leading Chelsea following the Spaniard's departure, came up with a timely contribution.

And Lampard told ITV Sport: "Juan Mata is an absolutely fantastic player, and more than that he is an absolutely great lad. [I] wish him all the best personally.

"The difficult thing here is that there are so many quality players and Oscar has been fantastic this year, as has [Eden] Hazard.

"Willian's shown that, and we've got so many riches in that position that it's difficult, but you need performances like that from Oscar today. That free kick was absolutely top drawer."

After reeling off a seventh successive win Chelsea are providing evidence they are finding their feet under Jose Mourinho, following some early season inconsistency.

With just two points separating Chelsea from the Premier League summit, the club facing Galatasaray in the Champions League last 16 and City in the FA Cup fifth round, the season is rapidly reaching the sharp end.

"There's a good feel around the place, [with] the manager coming back [it] took a little bit of time for him to get his points across I think," Lampard added.

"In the last couple of months we've been finding that little bit of mentality - that feeling in the dressing room - and we're going out there with more confidence.

"We have to keep that up - the minute you drop that, the results will turn - so we have to make sure we keep at it and carry on this form."