Chelsea will not be held to ransom by Frank Lampard and are planning for life without him next season.
Prolonged contract negotiations remain deadlocked and the Blues have prepared a take it or leave it offer.
The England star, 28, has a host of European suitors - including Barcelona, Real Madrid and Juventus - pursuing him. He will enter the final year of his Chelsea contract next season.
Sunday Mirror Sport can reveal senior club insiders are convinced they must not allow Lampard and his advisers to call the contract shots. It is believed Lampard is aiming to be the highest paid player at the club. A target wage of £150,000 a week would be about £20,000 more than the current top earners such as captain John Terry, Michael Ballack and Andry Shevchenko.
At the moment Lampard's deal, which has lucrative increments built in, surpasses £115,000 a week.
Chelsea have another problem to consider as they deal with the Lampard wrangle. Skipper Terry, who signed a new contract last July, has a clause that ensures no player can be paid more than him. So whatever Lampard gets will have to be paid to Terry.
Chelsea can still finish the season on a high with a Premier League-Champions League double. They go into today's big clash with Arsenal aware that to overhaul the Gunners and Manchester United at the summit is going to be a massive challenge.
But Terry is defiant. He said: "It's a game we want to and need to win after dropping points against Tottenham in midweek. Defeat is completely unthinkable and would hand our rivals a massive boost. But it's not our style to give up until it's mathematically impossible."
He added: "Losing the lead twice to Tottenham in midweek hasn't helped our title aspirations. Obviously, we would have been in a far better position going into this game if we had picked up all three points.
"But there is no point looking back now. Our phenomenal home record speaks for itself and we just need to concentrate on our own game and not worry about Arsenal's."
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JONATHAN PEARCE
ALEC STEWART
THE MOLE