It has been a...
...a difficult season for many reasons.
Eden [Hazard] started injured in the first few months,
and we signed a few players who were injured as well.
They had to adapt to what we play,
to what the coach asks from us and that was not easy.
For example, some of the players had to play many, many games,
like N'Golo [Kanté], like myself, [Cesar] Azpilicueta maybe...
...we struggled a little bit this year but I think we were playing OK,
it was not our maximum level but I think it’s been a good season:
we are in the FA Cup, we are in the last-16 of the Champions League,
we are three points off Man United...
I mean, if you really look at it you cannot say that
this is an average or bad season. I think, up until now,
it is a good season. We come from two difficult defeats
against Bournemouth and Watford where I felt that
we did struggle, and we were not ourselves,
we didn’t play at the level required, or the level that we should have.
But apart from that, we recovered well on Monday
we played a good game, we won.
The most important thing is now the team grows
again and we get the confidence back
because the next month and a half or the next two months
if you look at our calendar is very tough.
We will need every single player available.
Manchester City hasn’t won the title yet,
you will be challenging until the end...
Well, let’s not lie to ourselves,
the title is gone.
I don’t know how many games are left
but they are too many points on top.
There’s no way they will lose six games
and the rest of the teams will win everything.
I cannot see this happening.
Obviously in football, you can never say never,
and I hate to say that, but they are playing a fantastic
season and it will take a miracle to catch them.
But for us the most important thing now is to reach the
Champions League for next year
and will go again in the Premier League,
and then we still have two very important trophies to play for.
That must be our aim for the season - qualify for the
Champions League and go for it in
the two trophies we have left.
I don’t know if you remember, but in the last interview
we did together you told me that
you ‘forgot how to play football'...
Really?
When they [Chelsea] finished 10th that season...
Now that we are seeing a comfortable and
confident Cesc Fàbregas, I wanted to ask you,
how different is that season compared to this one?
That probably was a comment that...
...it's true that there was a moment...
...that everything was going so bad,
so against us that you feel like sometimes you even
forgot how to play and this maybe has been once in my life
that it has happened and I said it this way,
maybe I exaggerated a little bit.
But you cannot compare that season to this
we still have a lot to play for and we are
in a good position in the league.
The problem is that in that moment, maybe when we had that
interview we were 16th or 17th and we just could not
get a win basically. Also, it's frustrating
the way it happened.
I think you cannot say it’s been a bad season
so far because there’s still a lot to play for.
How difficult is it to play a season
with a permanent debate on [Antonio] Conte’s future?
Did it affect the team?
I don't think so to be honest.
I think we are all professional players, we are players that
are used to the speculation, we are used to
what is around us.
At the end of the day, you are playing for a big
football club and there will always be rumours.
I don't really care about what is said
about me anymore or is said about the rest
because, in football, when you see everyday...
…one day you score two goals - you are the best
and the next day you concede one
or you lose and you are the worst.
There is no middle point in football anymore,
either you are the best or you’re bad so...
…you just have to really focus on your job,
which is to try to be good every three days,
compete well and then let the results talk.