I'm not the kind of player to see out my time and sit with my bum on the bench too much. I want to be involved. That's my character.

When I came to Chelsea from West Ham there were certain parts of my game I felt I needed to improve and I like to think now that I have shown dramatic improvement.

Of course, there will be few people who are sympathetic but you don't become a great team overnight, no matter how much money you have at your disposal.

Every season will have its dips and hard moments, and the challenge then is to make sure you don't get too down in those moments and make sure you come back fighting.

I'm a very private person, and you have a lot of people looking into your personal life, away from football. That's the one thing that I don't like, but I always remember how lucky we are that we're playing football.

My dad shaped the footballing side of me, and Mum shaped me as a person. I've always been very close to her - we've only ever had one argument, and that was over something stupid when I was 13.

I think about all my successes and failures and sometimes the failures stick in your head as much as the wins. But you do move on.