Willian not ready to walk out on Chelsea

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London, December 13: Willian has no desire to leave Chelsea during the January transfer window and insists his team-mates must fight to the end in the face of fading title hopes.

The Brazil international celebrated his return to Antonio Conte's starting line-up with a goal in Tuesday's stylish 3-1 beating of Huddersfield Town – a return to winning ways for Chelsea after going down to a surprise 1-0 London derby loss against West Ham last Saturday (December 9).

Alvaro Morata's absence at the John Smith's Stadium due to a back injury cleared the way for Willian to take a place in the first XI as Conte selected a free-flowing side without a recognised striker.

The 29-year-old has not been an automatic starter since the Italian switched to a 3-4-3 system in October last season, launching Chelsea's title charge, but he is not looking for a way out.

"I am always happy here at Chelsea, I really like this club a lot with my heart so I am very happy here," Willian told reporters.

"I hope not [that I leave in January]. I am happy here and the fans can be calm, I am a Chelsea player."

Conte declared Chelsea's title hopes were over after the West Ham loss and colourfully described any suggestions of catching runaway leaders Manchester City as "bull****" at Huddersfield.

But Willian maintains the players cannot view the 11-point advantage Pep Guardiola's side enjoy as insurmountable.

"I think on Saturday we had a bad game when we lost against West Ham, but we turned the situation around and played very well," he said.

"We have to play in this same way always to try to win the games. The gap is now 11 points and I think we have to fight until the end."

Willian added: "There's a lot of games and, in football, everything can happen. We have to fight. We never give up, we have to continue always."

Source: OPTA