Ghana midfielder Michael Essien admits he is delighted with the way his comeback at Chelsea has panned out this season.
Forced to sit out the majority of last season's Double-winning campaign through injury, Essien has returned in fine fettle at the beginning of this season and in recent weeks has taken on both creative and goalscoring duties with others, notably Frank Lampard, sidelined.
"This year we have started well, so far so good, and hopefully on a personal level I can stay injury-free and we'll see what happens," the 28-year-old told chelseafc.com.
"I think I'm one of the older players now so you have to take responsibility, work hard for the team to win games, and that's what I'm doing, but everybody has been the same."