Jordan Henderson spoke after Pedro Neto scored twice to help his side to a 2-0 Premier League win over Everton at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.
Jordan Henderson has admitted he loves the challenge of playing for Chelsea as he sends a message to those questioning the move. Henderson, 36, joined the Blues during the summer transfer window after leaving Brentford by mutual consent.
Signing a two-year deal, some cynics claimed the England international was only brought in to meet squad standards and help the younger members of his squad. But after missing the start of the season through injury, he has played the full 90 minutes in his side’s last three Premier League games and is loving life at Stamford Bridge.
“I enjoy the challenge,” he said. “I think when I arrived, a lot of people talked about this transition, but for me, I just have to talk on the field.
“I still work hard every day in training to help the team wherever I can. And when I play, I do my best to give the best performance I can for the team.
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“I still feel good. I still feel I can compete at the highest level, so I’m working and doing, I’m trying to focus on football and nothing else.
“I love it at the minute, you know, it helps when you’re playing with the best players around you and I feel the team is really coming together.
“In terms of spirit and unity and I can feel the fight, so I feel good. I feel like this is a good place for me and I’m excited to see what the future holds for this team.”
In a message to critics of the move, Henderson said: “Obviously everyone around football is talking about whether it’s the media or whatever. Yes, maybe that was the thought process, but I never felt that from Chelsea.
“From the moment I spoke to them, the manager and the club, I still felt that they wanted me to help on the pitch. So that’s what I’ve been trying to do and that’s what I’ve been doing to be honest.
“In football, there’s going to be so many different opinions, so many people are going to say something, and for me, I’m trying to use it as fuel, use it as energy, prove people wrong. I just want to do my job and my job on the field. I’m really talking here.”
Saturday’s victory over Everton was decided by two goals from wing-back Pedro Neto, who scored at either end of the second half.
And Henderson said: “I think today we showed another good side. Lots of duels, second balls, especially at home against Everton, it will be difficult to win.
“So, yeah, I thought that side of the game was good. Defensively more solid and then going forward I thought we looked dangerous at times, maybe we could have scored one or two more goals in the game. All in all, I think it was a really good day and a good performance, a good result.”
The Blues also kept their first clean sheet of the season against David Moyes’ side and the former Liverpool captain added: “We all know that clean sheets are important in football and they weren’t enough for us.
“Today is a good day to get it and overall I felt we were more solid defensively. We just have to keep working and I felt the players are getting used to each other more so that helps.
“The more you play with each other, the better you know where people will be and you get used to the relationships. That’s important.
“Today is going to be a big day just in terms of crossing the line with a clean slate and people can stop talking about it! Then we can just focus on what we have to do.”