The 26-year-old tells the programme that he believes he is feeling younger as he gets older, after fitness concerns held him back as a teenager, and explains why he feels ready to kick on and unleash his full potential.

‘I’ve spent years just trying to get to know my body as much as possible,’ he says. ‘I feel like I’m at a place now where I know what my body needs, and what it doesn’t like. That’s taken a really long time because to get there you need consistency, with training and everything, but if you keep getting injured, you don’t get it. So it was just years and years of seeing what works and what doesn’t, and I’ve got a routine now that I stick to and it works perfectly.

‘I feel like a completely different player, more mentally than anything else. Imagine all the problems I had, the effect it had on me mentally in the games. I just couldn’t go into a game without doubts, so you’re already on the back foot.

‘Now I’m at a point where I can do it, and… I feel 18, do you know what I mean? And I think I’ll carry on feeling younger and younger, because as I’ve got older I’ve just felt better and better. I feel like I know what my body needs, and my body’s adapted to the weight and my stature. It’s just taken a hell of a long time.

‘I feel good now and I feel like I have a platform to showcase my talent. Now I have the platform, I can really perform, and as long as the platform gets stronger and stronger, it will allow me to perform better.’

Remembering Ray

With Manchester United coming to the Bridge, it is a good time to remember our shared legend, Ray Wilkins, whose brother Graham speaks about their relationship with the club as young footballers.

‘Ray and I loved our time coming up at the club,’ he says in the interview. ‘We thought we would spend our entire careers together and then retire at Chelsea, which obviously wasn’t meant to be.’

Elsewhere you can hear exclusively from Graham Potter, Cesar Azpilicueta and our coaching staff from the women’s team and the Academy in their usual columns, while club historian Rick Glanvill and the rest of the team look back on the tumultuous 2000/01 season in Premier League Years.

Rainbow Laces

It’s also our dedicated game to the Rainbow Laces campaign as we encourage everyone to play their part in helping to make our sport welcoming for all and eradicating discrimination from football.

With all your stats, facts and club content on top of that, the programme remains the ultimate matchday companion, and the perfect read for the journey home from the game. Make sure you get yours from the programme sellers around the stadium, or order online to have it delivered to your door.

The club is also offering supporters the chance to order programmes that were previously unavailable to purchase on a match-by-match basis last season, during the period when the club was working under a special UK Government licence.

You can also purchase the final eight issues of last season’s programme. Each programme costs £3.50, plus postage and packaging. Click here to order.