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Chelsea centre-back Trevoh Chalobah has termed his recovery period from injury as a challenging time.
The 24-year-old has missed 31 games due to injury and only played his first full game of the season in the 3-2 FA Cup fifth-round win at home to Leeds United in midweek.
Chalobah made only his second appearance of the season three days earlier, a seven-minute cameo, in the 1-0 extra time defeat to Liverpool in the EFL Cup final. However, the Blues returned to winning ways against Leeds, extending their unbeaten FA Cup record over them to nine games.
Reflecting on his return to action - making his first start since the final day of the previous season - Chalobah said (as per the Blues' website):
“It’s been a difficult time for me. It is the first time I’m my career I’ve been out for this long and having setback after setback. I managed to keep myself focused on the road ahead and have managed to get here after a long few months of rehab.
“It was good to get 90 minutes. That was my first since pre-season in July. So I’m over the moon right now.”
Chelsea take on Leicester City at home in the last-eight on March 16.
"It was a massive win for us" - Chelsea defender Trevoh Chalobah
Mateo Joseph had put Leeds ahead in the eighth minute before Nicolas Jackson restored parity seven minutes later.
Chelsea went ahead through Mykhailo Mudryk eight minutes before half-time before Jackson bagged his second of the game on the cusp of the hour-mark. Just when it seemed that a replay would be needed at Elland Road to separate the two seeds, Conor Gallagher struck a 90th-minute winner to send the Blues through.
Following the defeat in the EFL Cup final, the result was a 'massive' one for the side, as Chalobah said in his aforementioned interview:
"Coming off the weekend, it was a massive win for us. We needed that, to get the boys’ confidence back up. The past is the past, and it (facing Leeds) was an opportunity to look forward and get into the next round of the FA Cup. That’s what we did.
"We’re a new group, and it was our first final together. We just need to learn from that one. I’ve, obviously, played in other finals and not won, so I know how it feels. This competition is another opportunity to get to a final again, and the boys are really hungry."
Chelsea next take on Brentford away in the Premier League on Saturday (March 2).
