Saturday 5 December 2015 08:31, UK
In an exclusive interview with Sky Sports, Chelsea defender Kurt Zouma tells Andy Burton the club are chasing the top four as a minimum.
Chelsea defender Kurt Zouma admits Bournemouth's rise from the brink of administration to the Premier League has been a "beautiful" story, but will not allow them to add the scalp of the champions to their list of achievements this weekend.
Chelsea host Bournemouth live on Sky Sports on Saturday Night Football, and in anticipation of the match, Zouma spoke with his friend and former teammate, Max Gradel, now of Bournemouth, to find out more about the club's meteoritic rise to English football's top table.
"Max spoke to me about them and when I heard their story I said 'wow!' Congratulations to them on their achievements so far - they've worked hard without a lot of money [to get to the Premier League] and they deserve to be here.
"I've seen them play once, and they are a very good team and they are playing well. It's really beautiful. They have to enjoy being in the Premier League, but not this weekend!"
Zouma believes Chelsea have shown enough signs in their past three games to indicate they have turned the corner after a dismal start to the season.
Victories against Norwich and Maccabi Tel-Aviv, followed by a credible a draw against a Tottenham side unbeaten in the Premier League since the opening day of the season give him hope that brighter times lay ahead.
"These results have given us confidence," he explained. "We were playing well before these three games but we were still losing - for example at Stoke.
"I believe we deserved to win that game. Now, the results are turning for us. It's a big game for us against Bournemouth and we have to win it to confirm we are back."
So what has changed for Chelsea? Zouma believes the "fine margins", which often define Premier League matches, are now starting to go Chelsea's way.
"The system hasn't changed," he told me at Chelsea's training ground this week. "Sometimes the boss has changed players but the system has stayed the same. If we continue to play the way we have been then we will continue to climb up the table.
"The best thing has been that we have always stayed together, even in the bad moments when we were losing. The team spirit is always good. When you win it's easy to say that, but in the bad moments we have stuck together.
A season filled with so much turmoil and adversity is clearly not what Zouma signed up for when he joined Chelsea in the transfer window of January 2014.
Chelsea go into this weekend's games 14th in the Premier League table, only five points above the relegation zone and 12 points off the top four. I ask him if he's had a chance to sit down, reflect, and ask himself, 'what on earth is happening here?'
"We haven't had time, because every three days we have matches! Everybody has stuck together. I remember one time the captain got everybody together in the dressing room and said: 'Guys, now we are playing much better, lets keep it up - don't think about the table, think game by game and keep it going, and if we do that we will be back. The boss trusts us, so lets keep going for him, and the fans, and everybody.'"
Terry's words resonated, and the Chelsea captain has helped integrate Zouma into the first-team. At times, the Frenchman's inclusion in the side has come at Terry's expense, yet ever the team man, he has always offered help and support to the 21-year-old whenever needed.
"He's been a big influence on me. So have the other big personalities in the dressing room, Gary Cahill, Branislav Ivanovic, and of course the boss, Mr Mourinho.
He [Mourinho] always trusted us, is always speaking with us, and we are all together, speaking with each other, and that's why we are playing much better now.
Despite the difficulties on the pitch, Zouma can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and recognizes the experiences of this season will see him emerge a better player, more capable of dealing with life at a club always under the microscope.
"It's been very good for me. I've learnt a lot. Last year we were winning everything and I was learning easily. Now, we are not winning but I am still learning. I'm playing much more than last year and I want to improve even more."
As for how the club's aspirations have changed over the past three months, Zouma concedes Chelsea are no longer thinking about winning the title, although a push for the top four is at the forefront of their minds.
"We want to be in the top four, minimum," he declared. "We want to be back in our normal situation.
"We are training hard for that, and if we keep training hard and keep winning we can be back for sure. Things are turning for us."
Max Gradel's Bournemouth teammates might have something to say about that.
Watch the extended interview with Zouma on Sky Sports News HQ on Saturday
