Romeo Lavia targeting sustained Chelsea spell after injury setbacks

The 22-year-old midfielder is approaching his most sustained spell in the side, having stayed fit throughout pre-season and the early weeks of the new campaign.

A 60-minute appearance against Brentford on Friday would take him beyond his previous best of 518 minutes without injury, a run which included pre-season fixtures.

Lavia's Chelsea career has been repeatedly disrupted since his arrival. A serious hamstring injury limited him to one appearance during his first season, while he subsequently missed 33 matches during his second campaign. That represented an improvement on the 42 games he had missed the season before.

After featuring in roughly half of Chelsea's matches last term, Lavia says he now feels "free" again and wants to "change the narrative" surrounding his fitness.

Manager Xabi Alonso has also helped him address the psychological effects of his setbacks, encouraging Lavia to overcome his reluctance to play a full 90 minutes, an issue that surfaced against AC Milan in August.

"There is so much that goes on behind the scenes," Lavia told BBC Sport.

"It's a big process but we're doing well at the moment."

"I've learned you can always go further than you think you can. You can always push your limits, especially when you feel like everything is going against you," he added.

"It's always easy to think about giving up, or to feel that whatever you do will take you back to the same point where you started.

"But luckily, with the help of team-mates, staff, everyone at the club and people close to me outside football, we've been able to create a sort of bubble where you concentrate only on what you can control."