After more than a decade in English football, Robert Sanchez is fully accustomed to the demands placed upon Premier League players in December.

There is no Christmas break. There are few days at home. Time with family and friends is minimal. Yet there is football – and lots of it. The Blues play nine matches before the end of the year, with five coming away from Stamford Bridge.

For those new to the top flight – or the wider English football pyramid – it can prove a challenging period on and off the pitch. For Sanchez, however, the festive fixtures provide a rare opportunity.

'My mum doesn’t get a lot of free time as my little sister still goes to school,' he explains. 'So Christmas is one of the times they can come over from Spain and watch our games. So I enjoy that.

‘It’s a long time since I came to England, more than ten years, and this period is very different to Spain. There you get free time at Christmas to be with the family, but here it’s very different and you're playing. But it’s our job – and we love the job – so we don’t mind it.'

Sanchez's job this season has thus far been Premier League-focused. The Spanish international has started each of our 12 top-flight fixtures and helped us to third in the table. Filip Jorgensen has, meanwhile, handled goalkeeping duties in the cup competitions, as was the case on Thursday evening against Heidenheim.

'We have a lot of games this season and it's like the manager says, we've got two top players in each position,' Sanchez said. 'So it's about rotating and performing. We want to compete for trophies, to do that we all have to be ready to play.'

A strong relationship has formed between Sanchez and Jorgensen, who spent many of his formative years in Spain. They are also close with fellow first-team goalkeepers Marcus Bettinelli and Lucas Bergstrom.

‘The group is amazing,' says Sanchez. 'We get along really well and are planning a Christmas dinner between us in London.

'We try to push each other every day. I’ve played in the Premier League and Filip in the cups; we’re trying to improve each together. We've also got Bets and Lucas who are not playing as much but their attitude is great. They push us and help us get better. So the group is amazing.'

Sanchez will hope to maintain his 100 per cent appearance record in the Premier League this afternoon against Aston Villa. The fixture begins our intense December schedule, which includes seven top-flight matches. The opportunity to build momentum and rack up points is one Sanchez appreciates can't be wasted.

‘At a period like Christmas, there’s a lot of people around and a lot of parties and events going on,' he says, 'but we need to stay focused on football and our job. We need to make sure we keep performing, that we keep getting points and wins in the cup and league, and that we keep doing what we’re doing.

'Villa is a team up there with us in the table, so these are three big points we need to win. We have been performing well – we had another win on Thursday – and need to keep that confidence going into these games.'