DE BRUYNE: "Working hard" and rewarded with a start tonight.

Kevin De Bruyne has hardly featured for Chelsea this season ever since he was criticised by the manager. Now, with an apparent change of attitude, De Bruyne will be rewarded with a start against Sunderland tonight.

As we all know, Jose Mourinho has spoken of the Chelsea team reaching a level of maturity and the players beginning to understand his mentality and philosophy. At different times during the course of the season he has called out players such as Juan Mata and De Bruyne for having to adapt to his style and the way he wants them to play.

Juan Mata has kept his head down, worked hard and forced himself into Mourinho's plans and delivered a great performance in the win against Southampton last weekend, playing the full ninety minutes.

Now, it's seems that De Bruyne has followed Mata's example and will be rewarded as revealed by Mourinho yesterday. He said:

'Kevin is showing desire and working very hard. I feel sorry for him that I haven't given him big opportunities up to now but he's working better than ever. Of course, he's sad when he's not selected or not playing, but he's working in a very professional way, which is a change from the beginning.

When he works the way he's working he has to play sooner or later. For tonight he's selected so he has a chance to play and in this block of games, for sure, he has to start matches.

I like him as a player and I've learned now how to like him as a kid because he's a good kid and he's showing now he's a good professional, so hopefully I can give him enough time on the pitch so he can be happy.

I understand he needs to play a bit more but it's the area of the pitch where we have more options, but I am speaking with him and we are working on that. He can also play as a midfielder when we play with a triangle, he did that for Werder Bremen, so hopefully we can find more options for Kevin to play because I like him very much.' 

You have to hold your hands up to the way Jose manages his players. We may not like it at times (Mata) but it seems to be working and if anything it keeps them on their toes.

Think back to the first game of the season against Hull and that opening 30 minutes of football. Kevin De Bruyne played a huge part in that. He has the ability and the quality to really bed down and make a case to be picked week in, week out by the manager. His pre season was really impressive.

I like the way Mourinho has stated on record to everyone and given credit where it's due to De Bruyne by saying that his attitude has changed and that he has more or less proved himself by doing exactly what Mourinho wants.

I just hope that De Bruyne can take chances like tonight and really grab them to show all of us his value to the squad and to the team.

Carefree & KTBFFH!