London, Sep 25 (IANS): Christopher Nkunku was delighted to earn his first Chelsea hat-trick after a stellar performance during the side’s 5-0 victory over Barrow in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday.

Following the victory, the Frenchman expressed how last season’s disappointing start to his life at Chelsea is now behind him.

“I think for each player and each position, you need to be competitive. You need to work hard and show what you can do. We want to help the team in every game. We just want to play and have a great game every game.

I’m feeling better. Last season was a disappointing season for me, but now it’s behind me. I just want to keep going and to work hard to get to my best level,” said Nkunku to Chelsea’s media team.

Nkunku joined Chelsea for a hefty transfer in June 2023 in what promised to be a positive addition to the side but ended up sustaining what turned out to be a serious knee injury in Chelsea’s pre-season.

Nkunku returned in December, but only briefly as A hip issue sidelined him once more, and then a hamstring problem put paid to any involvement in March and April. By the time the 2023/24 campaign drew to a close, Nkunku had only played barely 500 minutes of football in a Chelsea shirt.

Pleased with his efforts, last night's Player of the Match believes this is only the start and is focused on continuing his hard work to earn more opportunities.

“I’m happy but the most important thing is the win. We wanted to take the game seriously and we did that so we are all happy now. This is just the beginning of the season and we have only worked for just over two months, and now we are part of the process, but this is just the beginning.

We need to work hard in every training session and every game,” he added.