Lampard, Chelsea’s £11m midfield signing from West Ham, completed another Chelsea comeback from two goals down with a late winner at Charlton on the opening day of the season. His late goal at St. Mary’s tonight, again proving crucial.
In a tepid opening 45 minutes, Chelsea, led by the inspiration of Gianfranco Zola and Boudewijn Zenden, lost their way after a bright start and keeper Carlo Cudicini needed to make fine reaction saves from James Beattie's sprawling header and Bridge's 25-yard blast.
Hasselbaink had been anonymous for the entire first half apart from when he was jeered for a theatrical fall and then had a chance taken off his toe by Wayne Bridge's interception.
But with Gudjohnsen on for Hasselbaink following the half time interval, Chelsea put together an overdue move of supreme class at the start of the second period.
Celestine Babayaro, Enrique de Lucas and Zola linked up to split the Saints defence, leaving Gudjohnsen to run clear onto Zola's final ball only to curl his shot just beyond the far post as Paul Jones raced out to cut down the angle.
However, in the 52nd minute, Fabrice Fernandes finally broke the deadlock with Southampton’s first goal of the season – a thumping drive as he ran onto Marsden’s cross from the left.
Fernandes' strike looked enough to win it even though he missed out on a second when steering Anders Svensson's pass straight into Cudicini's arms soon after Pahars blasted an instinctive volley over the bar from Beattie's flick on.
But Gudjohnsen's second miss was more memorable than both. Perfectly set up by Zola he smashed his drive casually wide with only Jones to beat.
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Eidur can therefore be thankful to Frank for sparing his blushes and coming up trumps in the 79th minute. With Zola again pushing the ball through to Gudjohnsen, Eidur this time rather than shoot, found Lampard with a sideways touch who, with great composure, chipped the ball gently over Jones and into the net.
Right at the death Chelsea were screaming for a penalty after Chris Marsden appeared to bundle the ball away with a hand but referee Chris Foy was unmoved.
With Chelsea continuing to press at the end, Saint’s came close to throwing the game away but on reflection, with Chelsea still yet to find a consistency over the full 90 minutes, a point each seemed a fair result.
Following the game Claudio Ranieri explained the half time substitution of Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, and vehemently denied that Jimmy’s poor start to the season had anything to do with speculation about a possible move to Barcelona.
Ranieri said: "He was a little tired and we have a big game against Arsenal on Sunday for which I wanted him to recover.
"The speculation which has come from the Spanish press has not affected Jimmy. He's animal-footballer who when it comes to the game just attacks it.
"Sometimes people don't start the season well. Remember he's coming back off a bad injury at the end of last season.
"He's committed to Chelsea and I've never even had to speak to him about Barcelona because I know he will stay with us."
Ranieri admitted Chelsea were relieved to escape with a point after Frank Lampard's late equaliser.
He said: "We made too many mistakes, missed too many chances. It is okay to draw in a match like this but normally we want to win.
"We played well against Man United last Friday but that's a different game, a different style. Southampton always try to play the long ball and win the second ball. It is not our way and it is difficult for us. Like Man Utd we always want to play good football.
"But Charlton are like Southampton and we managed to beat them. So it is disappointing to only draw."