• ‘I knew I had to wait on the bench and try to change games’
• Defender Alex delighted with Chelsea’s defensive record
Yossi Benayoun insists he is happy to wait for his first Chelsea start following a hat-trick of substitute appearances for his new club. The 30-year-old Israel midfielder has yet to make his full debut for the Blues after joining them from Liverpool this summer.
But he staked a claim for a starting place by scoring his first Chelsea goal after coming on in Saturday’s 6-0 Premier League defeat of Wigan Athletic.
Benayoun claims his bit-part role is no different from that he played during his early Liverpool career and he is confident of proving himself. “I know I can do it; I did it before in my career,” he told the Evening Standard newspaper.
“When I arrived at Liverpool, I knew I had to wait on the bench and try to change games and now I’m also doing it for Chelsea. When you come to a big club you need to be patient, there are a lot of quality players, but I just want to prove that I deserve to be here every chance that I get.
“I enjoy playing anywhere and every minute I am on the pitch. I can play anywhere in the three in midfield or the three up front.”
Chelsea have enjoyed a perfect start to their defence of the Premier League title, scoring six goals in each of their opening two games. They have also kept two clean sheets after conceding 10 times in their last four pre-season games.
It is the latter statistic that has particularly pleased the defender Alex. “It is a very important thing,” said the centre-half. “We worked very hard in pre-season training on our defending and now you can see the result.”
Meanwhile, the Dutch side Vitesse Arnhem are expecting to sign the Chelsea youngsters Slobodan Rajkovic and Nemanja Matic on loan. Rajkovic has yet to make his first-team debut for Chelsea, while Matic has made two Premier League substitute appearances.
The Serbian defender Rajkovic has already had two loan spells in Holland, having played for PSV Eindhoven and FC Twente.
Vitesse’s new owner, Merab Jordania, claims the pair will join his club before the transfer window closes.
“Slobodan Rajkovic and Nemanja Matic? Yes, they will come,” Jordania told De Telegraaf. A third Chelsea youngster, Jacob Mellis, is also being linked with Vitesse.
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