I don’t know if we’d have been as dominant as we were last season. The new things, the new ideas the manager brought in everyone took them on board so well. He is special.

I come from a football family which has really helped.

I don’t know if we’d have been as dominant as we were last season. The new things, the new ideas the manager brought in everyone took them on board so well. He is special.

I think it was in Moscow last year and I got changed for training the day before we played Moscow, but the fact is they actually wanted to do John’s, me and John were next to each other and they did mine by mistake. John had done them I think. So yeah it is true.

Even with the quality of players that we have, they’re an extremely hard side to break down and once they get on top of you, you find it difficult to stem the flow of attacks.

Of course it is going to be difficult for any player to get in the Chelsea side no matter who they are.

I admit I was somewhat concerned when we started to sign so many players – naturally you are going to worry about whether you can retain your place in the side.

When you take a lot of stick you want to ram it down people’s throats.

I’m really happy here. I think anyone who knows me well, and the fans too I hope, they know that I love the area, and the bond that I’ve had with the fans has been fantastic.

Of course, there will be few people who are sympathetic but you don’t become a great team overnight, no matter how much money you have at your disposal.

I’m happy here, and why change when you love the club and the club’s in a really good position right now.

I think I work harder on the pitch, I cover more ground and my passing is more accurate.

Training’s completely different now. It used to be a lot of running and work without the ball. Now it’s all with the ball, which any player loves.

I can’t stress the importance of working hard enough, work on all aspects of your game. If you does that and you have the ability, you’ll come through.

Barcelona are my favourite team in Spain, let’s put it that way.

I get asked that a lot and I really don’t.

I think as far as kids go, you just have to work hard. Work on your skills, keep focused.

I fancy our chances at the European Championships.

The advantage does lie with us because we’re at home and if we can’t motivate ourselves for this match then we can’t motivate ourselves for any match. I think the crowd will be up for it as well.

A lot of things happened when I left there, and to be fair they treated me really bad, and now I have to play against them so I don’t have any feelings for them at all.