• Didier Drogba was Chelsea's big game player, turning up frequently in finals
• Meanwhile, 'chopper' Ron Harris was a legendary leader in the 1960s and 1970s
• Eden Hazard and N'Golo Kante have been Chelsea's stars of the modern era 

Mail Sport with the help of our readers is on a mission to find the greatest player of all-time at each of the 20 Premier League clubs.

Today it's the turn to look at the legends of Chelseafrom Bobby Tambling and Peter Osgood to Premier League legends Gianfranco Zola and Didier Drogba.

And once you've made up your mind who is the best ever, it's time to vote...

 

For some clubs, there is a clear front-runner when it comes to determining their greatest player. Not so Chelsea, they have had so many big stars and personalities over different eras, most recently their five league titles and two Champions Leagues under Roman Abramovich.

They were first English champions in 1955 with Roy Bentley serving as both captain and top scorer. Overall he netted 150 times in 367 appearances for The Blues and went to the 1950 World Cup as a Chelsea player.

Bentley's stayed as the club's record scorer until Bobby Tambling overtook him with 202 goals between 1958 and 1970.

By then Chelsea had become England's glamour club synonymous with Swinging London with showbiz stars like Raquel Welch invited to games by celebrity fan and director Dickie Attenborough.

Striker Peter Osgood was known as The King of Stamford Bridge as Chelsea won the FA Cup and European Cup-Winners' Cup. In the latter, he scored in every round including the final and the subsequent replay against Real Madrid.

Tall and elegant, Osgood made his debut at 17 and was so good, team-mate Terry Venables quipped: 'Where have you been all this time?'

Osgood cohorts in that team are iconic. Scottish winger Charlie Cooke and Alan Hudson were the skilful mavericks who fitted into the team's King's Road image.

At the other end, they could be hard. Defender Ron Harris was known as Chopper for the way he'd be prepared to stop his opponents in full flow.

Harris made a record 795 appearances for Chelsea and happily told Mail Sport in an interview: 'With VAR, I'd be lucky to see out the warm-up.'

His sidekick was Dave Webb who scored a rare goal to win the 1970 FA Cup against Leeds in a notorious match that modern ref Michael Oliver said he'd have issued 11 red cards.

For most of the 1980s and 90s, Chelsea hit the doldrums though Kerry Dixon was a huge terrace favourite in his nine years at the club, twice firing the club to promotion and winning the First Division Golden Boot.

Gianfranco Zola joined Chelsea from Serie A in 1996 and was a formative figure in the Premier League becoming a global attraction.

Before Zola, it was questioned whether smaller players from overseas could cope with the physicality of English football. Their new No25 tore up that theory with sensational performances capped by scoring the winner in the 1998 European Cup-Winners' Cup final.

Zola helped make Chelsea attractive enough for Roman Abramovich to buy the club in 2003 and change the club's history.

Under Jose Mourinho in 2005, they ended a 50-year wait for a championship and established themselves among England's elite clubs.

John Terry was club captain for all five Premier League titles though he was suspended when they finally lifted the Champions League in 2012.

Terry gets into many all-time Premier League dream teams and is generally regarded as the best skipper of the last 30 years with Roy Keane. The central defender is credited for maintaining Chelsea's high standards on the pitch even as managers came and went.

His vice-captain Frank Lampard scored a club record 211 goals from midfield and later returned to Stamford Bridge to be manager.

Fittingly, it was 'Super Frank' who was twice on target at Bolton in 2005 that clinched Chelsea's all-important first championship.

The ultimate big-match player during that period was Didier Drogba who twice scored winning goals for Chelsea in FA Cup finals and most importantly headed their equaliser against Bayern Munich in the 2012 Champions League final that The Blues went on to win on penalties.

Of course, it was the powerful Ivory Coast centre-forward who took the winning kick in the shoot-out as Chelsea upset the Germans in their own back yard. He also won the Premier League Golden Boot with 29 goals in 2009/10 when Chelsea won their only League and FA Cup Double. 

It was feared the honours would dry up once the influence of the golden generation waned but Chelsea still won the titles in 2015 and 2017, largely due to the influence of Eden Hazard.

Hazard's fantastic close control allowed to beat opponents with ease and he backed it with end product, winning the Footballer Writers' and PFA Player of the Year in 2015.

Always having a sense for the big occasion, the Belgian scored twice and set up another in the 2019 Europa League final against Arsenal – his final Chelsea game before an ill-fated move to Real Madrid.

Though Chelsea's second Champions League crown, under Thomas Tuchel in 2021, has not been the springboard to more success, it's doubtful their triumph would have been possible without N'Golo Kante, the incredible midfield player who had also been voted Footballer of the Year four years earlier after helping Chelsea win the Premier League in his first season.

 

To select your greatest Chelsea player, click on the voting button or email greatest@dailymail.co.uk if you want to choose someone not on the shortlist.

We will reveal the results of the greatest all-time player for all 20 Premier League clubs before the start of the 2024-25 season.