Zakaria gives rallying cry as he hopes to return to Chelsea starting role | OneFootball

After returning from injury in the last couple of weeks, Denis Zakaria has started getting minutes off bench, and tomorrow could see him in the starting XI once again for Chelsea, for the first time since January.

His absence coincided with the dreadful run of form the whole team has been on, and in quotes from the open training session today at Cobham, the likeable Swiss star explained what the team need to do to get back on track after a precious 3 points were earned on Saturday.

“After a streak as we have had you are just happy to win,” Zakaria said. “It has been hard for the manager and the players also. It wasn’t easy to lose games. We are Chelsea. We have to win,” the midfielder said in quotes picked up by Football.London.

“It is not easy when you lose too often but in the end, we did well and are happy with our three points. We are not getting too happy because we have a big game and a big week that we need to be ready for. It will for sure give us confidence in the future. We will work better after the win [against Leeds]. We can build after this game.

“We are happy for the win and it will help us ahead of Dortmund and it will lift the confidence of the players.”

It will be interesting to see how Graham Potter sets up his team tomorrow night after a big win at the weekend. He’s been heavily criticised for rotating too much, but equally will feel that he wants to give players like Zakaria a shot now they’re fit again.

Whether as a sub or a starter, he sounds ready to get stuck in and pick up where he left off.