Kai Havertz admits Chelsea's dismal run of form in January and February impacted his life off the pitch – but the German believes the Blues will now continue to improve under Graham Potter after recording three consecutive victories.
Chelsea endured a run of just two wins in 12 matches after the World Cup break. It was a run of form that resulted in Potter's position coming under threat. Havertz struggled over that period; he scored just twice despite being established as the club's first-choice number nine.
The mood at Stamford Bridge has dramatically changed over the past ten days, however. Victories over Leeds United and Leicester City were secured in the Premier League while Chelsea overcame Borussia Dortmund to secure their place in the Champions League quarter-finals.
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Havertz produced one of his best performances for Chelsea against Dortmund and got on the scoresheet against the Bundesliga giants. He followed that goal up with another in the 3-1 victory over Leicester on Saturday and believes the team is starting to come together under Potter.
"We have so many players, we knew it was going to take some time to time to adapt for everyone," Havertz explained after the victory at the King Power Stadium. "Maybe you can see that we are still not finished. It will take always time to develop. We can develop a lot but we showed another good performance [against Leicester] and we can be happy.
"To win three games in a row is important for us because we had a tough time before that. We knew we would bounce back. We still have a game to play before the national team matches. We have to keep our focus high and win the next game [against Everton] as well."
As was the case for many of his teammates, Havertz came under heavy criticism during Chelsea's difficult run of results. And the forward has opened up on how that impacted his life away from the club.
He explained: "Football is our life and if you lose a game, of course, you don’t have an easy life. I think everyone at home – especially my girlfriend – has had some tough weeks as well in the last weeks and months. I think she is happy now again and so am I.
"For you guys, it is the same, if you have a bad day at work, you feel…I won’t say the word now but you don’t feel good. Football is a game where we have a lot of pressure on our shoulders. We want to make the fans happy and if you don’t make them happy then you don’t have a good time. Winning is always the best, we won again so we can enjoy some days."
Chelsea remain tenth in the Premier League despite overcoming Leicester and are 11 points off the Champions League places. A surge into the top-four places feels unlikely yet Havertz has not written off the Blues' campaign.
"To be honest, we look game-by-game," he said. "The goal at Chelsea is always to win something. Of course, this season it is going to be hard to win the Premier League but we still have a lot of games to play. We can get a lot of points. We have to keep up the pressure on the other teams. The Champions League is also a big tournament for us so we have something to play for."
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