Alvaro aims for goal-den year
ALVARO MORATA is on a mission to repay Chelsea’s faith in him, make his critics eat their words and prove how much he loves life at Stamford Bridge.
Morata freely admits he could have been sold this summer but instead decided to stay and prove himself – and he finally got his reward in a game just made for strikers.
The Spain star missed the World Cup after ending his debut season at Chelsea on a barren run – and fans called for him to be sold when he missed a penalty against Arsenal pre-season.
But in a match featuring 39 shots in total, Morata scored his first of the new campaign and only his second in the Premier League since Boxing Day.
He struck after Pedro scored the opener, only for Arsenal to come roaring back with goals from Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Alex Iwobi before Marcos Alonso snatched a late winner.
But for Morata, who struggled with a back injury last season, it was just a sign of things to come now his future is sorted and he is house hunting in the capital.
Haters
He said: “I could have gone back to Spain or Italy. All the people believe in me there but I want to change all the things here.
“I want to, not for all the haters, but for me and for Chelsea. Chelsea gave me everything in one moment that I needed and now I have a lot of time to give back all Chelsea give me.
“I am looking forward to buying a house and I can’t wait for the babies to grow up to put them into school. I am very happy. Why would I not be happy?
“I want to change all the thinking from the people who say I’m not happy. It’s the only reason I stay here. If Chelsea said you are not in our plans, I move. But, if Chelsea want you, every player wants to stay.
“It was good to score. It’s not been a good period for me over the last year. I missed a penalty in a friendly game and it seemed like it was the final of the Champions League.
“But I always feel the support and love of Chelsea supporters and it’s very important for me to keep working and fighting. I think this year will be better.
“For sure, I want to score more than 30 goals, but I would prefer to score 15 or 20 and get the Premier League or one big trophy. I think there’s a lot of things in the last year that were hard for me – but not my confidence.
“I had the injury, that was very bad for me and my health. But when the ball goes into the net everything changes.
My mind is not blocked any more and I hope now I can score lots of goals.”
Morata believes Chelsea are now playing to his strengths under Maurizio
Sarri, whose style of football is less direct than his predecessor
Antonio Conte.
He added: “For me the most important thing is the way we play. Last season it was direct balls and for me to protect the ball in the air and I think it’s not my best quality.
“Now I can attack space, play one touch, and go in the area for the crosses. We play better. In this way we are very dangerous and can play against any team in the world.
“Here in the Premier League if you win your first five games, you are in the fight. The beginning is very important because you can lose every match in the Premier League.
“For us this was very important. We need to improve little things but at this moment we have only worked one month with the manager.”
Chelsea certainly need to improve at the back – they could easily have conceded five or six – and new boss Sarri admitted afterwards it was bad for his health.
The chain-smoking Italian couldn’t wait to have a puff after the final whistle after being put through the wringer – and then announced he is going to quit the habit!
Sarri said: “I am going to stop. Just for one or two years, then I will start again.
“There was a horrible 15 minutes when we were really in trouble.
“But I didn’t feel like I needed a cigarette. I just needed the first half to end! We have to improve. I think that’s normal.”