'He is a close friend' – Badiashile on the joy of partnership with his best mate

Chelsea got a win yesterday but it was not the most positive game ever. It was another pretty turgid performance in attack, and the kind of game you can easily see having been turned on its head had Blackburn scored.

Lucky then that our defence looked strong – thanks in part to the return from injury of Benoit Badiashile.

He not only played his first game in 6 months, he also got the opening goal, and speaking to the club’s official website after the game, he made it very clear how happy he was about it:

“I’m so happy to be able to help the team with this goal,’ Badiashile said after the win. ‘It has been a difficult period for me because I’ve not been on the pitch, but I’m very happy to now be back with the team.

“It was so good because we know each other very well. It was easy for me to play alongside [Axel Disasi] because I did so for a long time [at Monaco]. He is a close friend so I am happy.”

While our concerns are still mainly with our attack, getting Badiashile back is a huge boost for Mauricio Pochettino, and it will be very interesting to see who starts on Monday night for the Blues against Tottenham.

It may come a little soon for a player recovering from injury, but there’s no doubt that he will be in the picture in the games to come.