Kovacic praises Loftus-Cheek but warns that he will not stop fighting for place

Ruben Loftus-Cheek has well and truly set the goal scoring standards for the Chelsea midfielders so far this season, as he scored three goals against BATE Borisov in the Europa League, in his first full match in the side. 

The England man has had to be patient at the start of the current campaign, as competition is rife among a strong Chelsea squad. But surely if the midfielder continues his great form, manager Maurizzio Sarri will be forced to finally hand him a first Premier League start. 

However teammates Matteo Kovacic is also growing impatient at a lack of minutes for the Stamford Birdge side; while he admires Englishman Loftus-Cheek, the Croatian will not let up in his own pursuit of more regular game time for the 'Blues'. 

Speaking about the competition for places in the Chelsea ranks, Kovacic explained that the manager has many faces to chose from: "One day I play then the next day Ross, then Ruben, we have a lot of players. N'Golo [Kante], [Cesc] Fabregas, Jorginho, so a lot of quality in the midfield. It's normal you can't play every game so we are supporting each other. The season is long and we need every player."

He continued: "We have a good team, we have 22 or 23 players who can always play. That's really important for the full season. In the end, the coach chooses who will play but we are all prepared. We are footballers but we are 25 players so we need to support each other."

Chelsea have lacked a proven goalscorer in the midfield for some time, and Kovacic has admitted that Loftus-Cheeks impressive hat trick has gone down well with the manager.

Of Loftus-Cheeks display against BATE, Kovacic said: "The midfielders need to score more goals, me obviously, and Ruben scored three against BATE so he did well. We need to play much better because we have a lot of quality in our team. I hope to score soon too, but in the end it's important we play good football and push forward."

Known as 'The Professor' by Chelsea teammates for his great linguistic skills, Kovacic concluded that he needs to improve in order to be a regular feature for the Stamford Bridge club going forward. 

Kovacic Said: "It's good, I'm a little bit tired. I was not used to playing every three or four games and here it is very tough football. You can't relax against anybody so it's a little bit difficult but I really enjoy it."