Chelsea defender not allowing England prospects to take away his club football focus

BY PAUL LAGAN
paul@slpmedia.co.uk

Trevoh Chalobah is relishing facing Cristiano Ronaldo tomorrow and, while he’s modest and sensible not to get too excited, the prospect of a full England call-up ahead of the World Cup is creeping into the Chelsea man’s thoughts.

Defender Chalobah was the star man as Chelsea clung on to another clean sheet – their fifth in a row as they drew 0-0 at Brentford on Wednesday night.

The Blues face United at Stamford Bridge in the early evening kick-off, knowing that their recent clean sheet run is providing the backbone for the prospect of a top-four finish in the Premier League.

Sierra Leone-born Chalobah, 23, said of the prospect of tangling with Ronaldo: “Yeah I played against him last season as well.

“It’s a dream come true – but we need full focus to get three points.”

With England facing a full-back crisis – Reece James, Kieran Trippier and Kyle Walker are all injured – Chalobah knows that a strong set of performances for the Blues could see him sneak into the squad.

And the cultured England U21 defender said he is ready if called on: “The first thing was to play for Chelsea and get myself back in the team, and I’m doing that now.

“That’s the most important thing for me. There are a lot of games coming up and I want to play in every single game and see the team win.

“It’s just club football for now. I never focus on anything else. Chelsea is my main priority.

“It’s always a kid’s dream to be called up. If it comes, I’m ready for what’s ahead.”

Chalobah played in the Thiago Silva role in the midweek derby.

“Obviously I’m learning from him a lot,” said Chalobah. “It’s good to be versatile as well. I can play in all three positions. So I just want to give myself the best chance when selection comes.”

And part of that is not conceding goals.

Chalobah reveals that the Blues, under Graham Potter, have been focused on doing just that.

He said: “Yeah, the most important things for us right now are the clean sheets.

“From now, we are looking at it as a goal for us defenders and as a team. If we keep getting the clean sheets, we know that the chances will be created [at the other end] and we will win more games.

“Now, especially this season we have been doing a lot of things on and off the pitch regarding defensive play. Doing a lot of analysis, and I think it’s going well.”

Part of that process is knowing , as a team, that they have to suffer to succeed. Potter instilled that mindset into his former side Brighton – as a smaller club, it was the correct mentality to have, especially playing against the top sides.

But he has now brought that to one of the Premier League’s top sides, and Chalobah reckons it’s a good thing.

He said: “That’s the mentality that the manager’s brought in – suffering.

“Playing teams like Brentford, there are going to be a lot of long balls. We are going to have to run for each other, work for each other.

“Maybe it’s a surprise to see that at Chelsea. Everyone expects us to play a lot of serious football. We have to show the other side of the game – and that’s suffering.

“That’s what teams like Brentford and a lot of the other smaller teams do. And that’s what we need to bring into our team too.”