Cesc Fàbregas hopes his impressive goalscoring performance against Leicester City in the EFL Cup has proved to Antonio Conte that he deserves to start against Arsenal on Saturday, with the Spaniard claiming that his desire to get back into the Chelsea team is “stronger than ever” after a difficult start to the campaign.
The 29-year-old has played only 32 minutes of top-flight football this season, with Conte picking Oscar, Nemanja Matic and N’Golo Kanté ahead of him in the Premier League. Fàbregas admitted that he has found that situation hard, but the former Barcelona midfielder insisted he would not concede defeat and said it was a measure of his determination to turn things around that he was training with the same enthusiasm he felt as a teenager at Arsenal.
Speaking after scoring twice in extra time to seal a 4-2 victory for Chelsea at the King Power Stadium on Tuesday night, Fàbregas said he respected Conte’s decision-making but hoped his contribution against Leicester would “open his eyes and make him see that I deserve to play”.
“It’s a new situation for me in my career after 13 years of basically playing everything for my club and national team, and it’s been tough, I’m not going to deny it,” Fàbregas said. “But the last thing I will do is complain or put my hands up and give in. Something from inside is coming out stronger than ever and I just feel like a little boy in training, trying to win my spot back as I used to do at Arsenal when I was 16.
“I’ve been training very hard. You have to be professional. You have to keep your attitude. All my team-mates deserve respect. My coach deserves respect because I know he wants to win and if he doesn’t play me there is always a reason. Hopefully I can open his eyes and make him see that I deserve to play.”
Fàbregas immediately made it clear that in no way was that remark intended to be disrespectful towards the manager – “I don’t want to make it look like I’m telling him [what to do]” – and was more a case of trying to get across the idea that his display against Leicester shows Conte what he is capable of producing if given the chance.
Asked whether he thought his two goals would get him back into the team, Fàbregas replied: “It’s too early. I’m not going to deny I want to play every single minute – it’s what I work for – but the coach chooses the 11 he thinks is best suited to win the game. And that’s it. Wherever I am I will support the team. Inside, outside and when my time comes I will try to perform as I have been doing over the last few weeks.”
Conte said prior to Friday’s home defeat to Liverpool that Fàbregas must improve on the defensive side of his game if he is to force his way into the side, with the Italian concerned that Chelsea conceded 53 goals in the Premier League last season. They have yet to address that problem this term – the 3-0 victory over Burnley is their only clean sheet in seven matches, during which 10 goals have been shipped.
Fàbregas said that Conte has explained what he expects from him, in particular the need to get the balance right between attack and defence. “He [the manager] speaks a lot. He wants the midfielders to be very complete, to be physically strong,” said the Spaniard. “We are training very hard for it. If you have to analyse me, maybe I’m a bit more the playmaker, creative going forward, and he wants me to be a little bit more stable and compact in defence. For Matic, who is the opposite of me, he wants him to be better offensively. For Oscar, for Kanté … he works with every aspect for us to be the best we can.
“I know what I can do. After 13 years I know myself very, very well. I am in a moment of my career where I feel very mature. I know physically what I can give. I know when I have to press and I choose much better my game overall. I just want to play and give my all and hopefully this will come soon.”
The short trip to his former club Arsenal, where Fàbregas made 303 appearances across eight years, would seem like the ideal venue to return to the lineup. “It’s a special fixture because I’ve lived moments there that I’ve never lived in my career,” Fàbregas said. “No matter what I hear or what they say to me, Arsenal will always be a fantastic, special club in my heart. They gave me absolutely everything and I will repeat it until I die, no matter what, they will always be in my heart.”
