RAMIRES: His injury, Squad depth and the improvement this season.

Ramires has had his problems this season with injury. So much so, he has only started three Premier League games so far which has been difficult to deal with. After missing out on the majority of our season so far, he is back and ready to play his part as Chelsea attempt to win one or more of four competitions.

When asked of his injury problems he said:

"I am happy. I have been playing just five or 10 minutes before, but against Spurs I played for 45 minutes and Watford I played the full 90.

I'm more confident because now I'm okay to play if Jose Mourinho needs me to play more games. I'm in the condition to do that.

I have had to be patient. I stopped playing regularly for a long time and now for me it's very good to be playing more.

I need to do more work to feel more well, but now I can help the team and I'm happy about that.

It was a muscular injury in my abductor. It is a difficult area to get injured because all your movement depends on this. It was difficult for me because one day it felt very good, others not so good. But I try every day to help the team in games."

Chelsea have been lucky in that for the most part, Cesc Fabregas and Nemanja Matic have been as good as they have. We haven't really missed Ramires in that central area which is something that we normally wouldn't dream of thinking due to his high work rate.

Ramires has spoken of the quality we have in the squad compared to last season and believes that we are better equipped to challenge for honours this time around.

He said:

"It's definitely a good problem to have, when the team has a lot of quality. A team that wants to win competitions and be champions can only gain from knowing that, if you change the players, you see others coming in who you know are not going to lose the momentum.


The standard isn't going to drop because everyone in the squad has a lot of quality. It's very good for the coach and the squad to have that healthy competition among the players for positions."

Finally as Chelsea prepare for what could be a pivotal moment in the title race against Manchester City at Stamford Bridge on the 31st January; Ramires believes that Chelsea are in a good position and just need to focus on winning games at home and picking up as many points away from Stamford Bridge as possible between now and the end of the season.

"Last season we were okay but this season we have improved a lot compared to the last few seasons - everyone can see that.

We were behind on points trying to catch teams in the past and now we're at the top of the League, even if Man City are right there with us. At this moment we know we only depend on ourselves.


We have to make sure we get the three points in our home games and then we go to our away games trying to get more points and fight for the title. We are in a good position."

Ramires is one of those players that you could virtually play anywhere and he would do a job. Whether it's through the middle or down the wing, you know exactly what you are going to get from him.

Thinking about it, it's almost like a new signing for Jose Mourinho having missed his influence on the pitch through injury for the majority of the season.

Ramires has returned at just the right time as people have questioned the "Chelsea wobble" and our ability to stick it out at the top of the league.

If his words are anything to go by, he believes like we all should, that we have more than enough quality to do it!