Chelsea's Trevoh Chalobah: 'I love this club and I will always fight no matter what'

It's taken Trevoh Chalobah 190 days and missing 32 games to get his first Chelsea start under Mauricio Pochettino. During that period, he's had to watch on as reports of him never playing for the club dominated the headlines.

But it all came back to him on Wednesday night against Leeds United. He started a game for his beloved Chelsea, dominating and reminding everyone why he's been able to come through the ranks at Cobham.

He admits the injury he suffered in pre-season was the toughest of his career. "It's been one of my hardest, mentally, physically emotionally everything," he told LondonWorld.

"Obviously being out for so long I have never had this in my career before but sometimes football is like this and I have always kept positive and focused on getting back. There are always setbacks and there is always going to be comebacks and now I have been looking forward to times like this and I have managed to get 90 minutes.

"I kept my head down and always kept working. With all the noise going on around me, I always just stay focused and I can always do what is in front of me. And me being at this club and how much I love the club, I will fight no matter what. If I play or I don't play, I will give it my all and that is all I can do." 

Chalobah has returned to a team of new players, different to the one that finished 12th last season and with a manager who has been drafted in to re-structure the club after spending £1bn in the transfer market.

But they missed a golden opportunity to start by winning a trophy. The defeat against Liverpool was a bitter pill to swallow and he admits the dressing room felt like a cemetery, with everyone gutted over the weekend.

He said: "Very tough obviously to concede last minute like that and in the changing room everyone was just down and silent. The past is the past and you know and we just go to look forward now. 

"I know what it feels like playing in two cup finals myself and it's a tough one. A new group of players and our first final together so hopefully many more.

"We need to learn from that one and obviously, we've got a big opportunity now to get to Wembley and game by game we just have to be prepared for that."

The defeat to Liverpool was crushing, but the commentary afterwards can also be damaging with former Manchester United captain Gary Neville's label of "blue billion-pound bottle jobs" going viral.

But Chalobah says the best way to respond when people doubt you is to block out the noise and bounce back.

"For us, we just have to focus on what is in the camp and what is between us and try and block out all the noise and all that," he said.

"We are all human beings and it's going to affect us somehow and as footballers, we have to bounce back. We got to the final and only one team can win and we showed a good cup run. And the boys are really hungry now and that loss stabbed us in the heart. We just have to show what we are about."

With Chelsea 11th on the league table, there have been inevitable questions about the qualities of manager Pochettino who arrived in west London with a reputation for getting the best out of young players. 

Injuries have not helped but the results have been inconsistent at best. Chalobah says behind the scenes, everyone is pulling in the same direction and fighting for the manager. 

"He is a brilliant manager. He's always going to protect us and we are always going to fight for him. no matter who the manager is we will always fight for the manager. We showed that today and we will do that every game," he said.

Both Chelsea and Chalobah will hope to get a winning run going and try to challenge for a spot in Europe next season when they visit struggling Brentford this weekend.