Defender reveals why he has no intention of leaving in an exclusive interview; Watch West Ham vs Chelsea Wednesday from 8pm live on Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports Main Event; Kick off at 20.15
Last updated: 01/07/20 6:11
There was no special pat on the back for Andreas Christensen. Every whisper of the “big game” was muffled by the buzz of Chelsea’s dressing room after denying Pep Guardiola’s free-kick Manchester City.
“It’s kind of what people expect you to do,” he says Sky Sports, “And that’s what I expect from myself every game.”
It is a measure of the urgency behind the man, now 24 and one of Chelsea’s longest running players, who directs the conversation away from his top stats and on West Ham Wednesday, live on Sky Sports.
- Passing accuracy of 93%
- Four out of four successful contrasts
- Two dribbles managed out of defense
- Eight duels out of eight won
After his streak in Premier League games against Aston Villa and Man City following the reboot, a hip problem kept him out of the FA Cup quarter-final win against Leicester on Sunday – but said he was “fit and ready to play “At the London stadium.
I know I had a great game and this is the level I want to be at all times.
Andreas Christensen
Christensen is impatient to change gears after a stop-start career in Chelsea which saw him spend two years on loan to Borussia Monchengladbach, supported by Antonio Conte on his return and then sidelined by Maurizio Sarri.
But with many moving parts – Antonio Rudiger, Kurt Zouma and Fikayo Tomori – he knows there are obstacles on the way to Wembley for a semifinal match with Manchester United in less than three weeks.
“We all want to play all the games,” he says. “The main goal for all of us is to win something this season and at the same time we want to finish in the top four.
“All the defenders have played a similar number of games. You feel good about who you are playing with because you have played many games together.
The CB Battle of Chelsea
| PL games have started | |
|---|---|
| Kurt Zouma | 19 |
| Andreas Christensen | 17 |
| Fikayo Tomori | 15 |
| Antonio Rudiger | 15 |
“It’s all about healthy competition. We can all intervene when the time comes. We know we have fantastic players and it’s not just us, but also the whole team. Especially since we came back in such a great shape and a great mentality. We are just enjoying the moment as a team. I think we are focused on maintaining healthy relationships and pushing for the next few weeks because there is not much to do. “
The waste of time in the blockade may have actually been beneficial for Christensen, who had lost his place on the team before football was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic.
He spent the first few weeks cycling twice a day and “trying to do as much work as possible” but when it became clear that the sport would not return for the foreseeable, he was given permission from Chelsea to return to his native Denmark to spend the time with his family.
Christensen was part of the Chelsea team who lost 3-0 at home to Bayern Munich before the blockade
“It was something I haven’t had a chance to do for a while,” says Christensen, who joined Chelsea on the Danish side of Brondby when he was 15 years old. “It was a nice holiday for me, it was something good enough for me.”
It could also prove useful for Frank Lampard, whose experiments with a back-three and a back-four have leaked goals in his first season as a Chelsea manager. The break offered the opportunity for a “second pre-season” and was saying that Christensen and Rudiger emerged from the break as starting defenders.
Chelsea have only kept six clean games from 31 games to date – only the last three and Tottenham have been less successful.
Christensen’s future at Chelsea had been examined after only eight league appearances for Sarri last season. Lampard’s confidence in Christensen was cleared in January when he ruled out any outings for the player, who still has two years to his current contract.
I’ve always had my eyes on Chelsea. I had my contract and I always expected to finish it and I always dreamed of even more.
Andreas Christensen
“I’ve never looked anywhere else,” says Christensen. “I never doubted my situation. I’ve always had my eyes on Chelsea. I had my contract and I always expected to finish it and I always dreamed of even more. Nothing has changed. Obviously it was a different situation last season, but I still like being here, that’s the short answer. “
Instead it is Chelsea that is already showing its ambition. Timo Werner and Hakim Ziyech will join at the end of a season that saw the stars of the academy emerge during a transfer ban. Sky Sports’ Paul Merson believes that protecting Champions League football coupled with financial support from Roman Abramovich will lay the groundwork for more prizes in the coming years.
“We are in a process, but I think we are ahead of schedule,” says Christensen. “We know what we are capable of. We feel very comfortable and confident at the moment. That’s where we all want to be, so why not? We are all hungry. We have a good balance between experienced people and young and exciting talents. So I think that’s the goal for all of us. “
Super 6: more misery for Moyes?
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