Kai Havertz opens up on mental struggles during Chelsea drought

Kai Havertz has confessed that Chelsea's miserable form over the winter period took its toll on his personal life.

The Blues found themselves on a run of just two wins from 15 games in all competitions, with Havertz himself scoring just one goal in his first ten Premier League outings of 2023, and it led to a toxic atmosphere around Stamford Bridge.

Boos could regularly be heard after games and things reached a concerning level when manager Graham Potter revealed he had been sent death threats over email.

The mood had a real impact on Havertz, who confessed: “Football is our life. If you lose a game, of course you don’t have an easy life as well. I think everyone at home, especially my girlfriend, has had some tough weeks as well in the last weeks and months. I think she is happy now again and so am I.

“For you guys, it is the same – if you have a bad day at work…you…I won’t say the word now but you don’t feel good. Football is a game where we have a lot of pressure on our shoulders.

“We want to make the fans happy and if you don’t make them happy then you don’t have a good time. Winning is always the best, we won again so we can enjoy some days.”

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Things have improved dramatically in the last few weeks, with Chelsea winning three-straight games and Havertz producing impressive individual performances, culminating in a delightful goal against Leicester at the weekend.

“We knew it was going to take some time to adapt for everyone," the German international explained.

"So maybe, you could see that we are still not finished. It will always take time to develop. We can develop a lot but we showed another good performance [at Leicester] and we can be happy.

“Of course, to win three games in a row is important for us because we had a tough time before that. We knew we would bounce back. We still have a game to play [at home to Everton] before the national team [break]. We have to keep our focus high and win the next game as well.”

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On this edition of Son of Chelsea, part of the 90min podcast network, Daniel Childs reacts to Chelsea's 3-1 win over Leicester City in the Premier League on Saturday to make it three wins in a row for Graham Potter.

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