Loftus-Cheek thrilled to give Sarri food for thought with cool treble
RUBEN Loftus-Cheek says he’s determined to maintain good habits after firing a hat-trick for his first Chelsea goals in 30 months to seal a 3-1 Europa League win over BATE Borisov at Stamford Bridge.
England midfielder Loftus-Cheek is yet to start a Premier League match under new Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri, but handed the taskmaster Italian an acute reminder of his talents with a coolly-taken treble.
When asked if this was his best performance in a Chelsea shirt, the 22-year old said: “It’s up there. Obviously scoring three goals, getting my first hat-trick for a while, even for the youth team, feels nice.
“Any player will tell you it’s nice to score a hat-trick. It feels good. Hopefully there’ll be many more to come.
“The first thing in my head is to keep training well. Even though I’m playing well it’s really important to train as hard as I can to keep my fitness up and keep sharp for when times like this do come when I get an opportunity to start or come on.
“So first thing’s first, I need to keep up the good habits — eating well, sleeping well and training well, and if I keep doing that then good things will come.”
Chelsea hardly had to shift into third gear to chug past their misfiring visitors and cement top spot in Group L, Aleksei Rios’ late header scant consolation for the Belarusians.
Loftus-Cheek started his selection argument in style by putting Chelsea in control, stroking home inside two minutes.
The powerful midfielder swept in calmly after Davide Zappacosta’s low cross, taking advantage of some poor BATE marking.
Some six minutes later, Loftus-Cheek doubled his and Chelsea’s tally, tapping home from a corner — and just beating the lurking Olivier Giroud to the punch as the Blues stars positively queued up for glory.
Willian produced another masterful creative display, buzzing around the BATE box to fine effect, and almost helped extend Chelsea’s lead further with a sumptuous through-ball angled for Giroud to chase.
France’s World Cup-winning striker just did not have the legs to reach the astute pass, however, leaving Chelsea to carry that 2-0 advantage into the half-time break.
Loftus-Cheek cut the cakewalk again after the interval, side-footing home from 20 yards after seizing on a botched BATE clearance.
Rios nodded in captain Igor Stasevich’s free-kick at the death, but Chelsea had long since won the night.