David Luiz wants to keep the games coming as we continue on our busiest ever season.
The defender played all 90 minutes of Thursday’s win over Steaua Bucharest, his 41st Chelsea appearance of the season, and has not missed a minute since the Middlesbrough game on February 27, when he was a second-half substitute.
Progression into the Europa League quarter-finals means Chelsea could play another 18 games this season, with a minimum 66 for the season, a club record, but David Luiz insists we have the means to cope with the demanding schedule, which continues when West Ham United visit in the Barclays Premier League tomorrow.
‘I want to end this week with a great result on Sunday. It’s a difficult game but we play at home and need to win,’ the Brazilian said.
‘My legs are good, I am 25 years old. Sometimes if you have more players to change it is much easier to help the team, but this year we don’t have too many players. I think we have 22 or 23, other teams have 30 or something like that, so this is difficult for the coach who needs to play with the same players.
‘But I want to play. I want to be on the pitch. Sometimes I am tired, but when I’m on the bench I don’t feel tired, I love to play football!
‘Personally for me it is amazing. I like to play games. I don’t like to train, it’s boring sometimes. I love to play games, so if I had to play every day I would want to. You need to rest sometimes but I prefer games to training for sure.’
It is a good job. With just two days to prepare for Sam Allardyce’s side, we face a team rested since March 2, which has played just four times since the beginning of February. In that time, Chelsea have played 11 games.
Three points will be the perfect way to head into the international break, though there is little respite for David Luiz, who faces Italy in Geneva before returning to Stamford Bridge as Brazil meet Russia, in a game for which tickets are on sale now.