The Blues winger got himself back on the scoresheet when we hosted Nottingham Forest in the Premier League at Stamford Bridge, netting his first goals for the club since a 1-1 draw with the same opposition on New Year’s Day.

Sterling’s two goals gave us a 2-1 lead, after we had gone behind in the first half, but we conceded an equaliser not long after going ahead and had to settle for a 2-2 draw by the final whistle. That left our No.17 equally frustrated with the way we went behind and failed to hold on to our lead for the win once we had fought back.

‘We made it hard for ourselves conceding early, like we have in a few games recently,’ said Sterling. ‘It’s a bit difficult when you go 1-0 down but we tried to keep positive and tried to build and we got the equalising goal, then got the one to go in front.

‘But then, again, we conceded a sloppy goal. It’s disappointing to go 2-1 up and not get the win. We wanted to take the three points and build from the previous week’s result, so we’re disappointed not to do that. These are games we have to see out and get the three points, it’s something we need to learn from.

‘We didn’t stop trying when we went a goal behind. It’s difficult with the results we’ve had in previous weeks but it shows the professionalism that we have in the team that we’re still trying to push and still trying to end the season on a high.

‘So it’s one that in the end we’re disappointed not to win, but also it was important to make sure we didn’t get a loss.’

On his own individual performance, Sterling was happy to find the net with his two goals and explained he is feeling more comfortable in recent weeks operating in his most familiar role on the left wing.

‘It’s been up and down with the results and I’ve just been focusing on keeping working and trying the help the team.

‘It’s been nice, operating in a position that I’m used to, being out wide and trying to get at people and just getting some consistency in that position.’

We are now left with three games remaining until the end of the 2022/23 season with our usual targets of a top-four finish and silverware beyond our reach, but Sterling insists Chelsea still have goals to achieve in the current campaign, prime among them being to send the supporters away for the summer on a positive, ahead of starting afresh for 2023/24.

‘We want to end the season on a positive note from getting good results. It’s one where we just need to be professional, keep trying to build, keep positive to the end of the season, just go out there and try to build the momentum to the end of the season because before we go into a new season we want to end this one on a high.

‘It’s something the manager’s drilling into us. We can’t be sloppy, we have to try to build on performances. It’s been a tough season but we have to try for the football club and the fans to at least end on a high note.’