Timo Werner made an impressive start to life in the Premier League as he helped Chelsea to a 3-1 win over Brighton – and revealed he did so despite playing much of the match with an injury.
The German forward marked his first competitive appearance for Chelsea by winning the penalty which allowed Jorginho to open the scoring in Monday night’s 3-1 victory at the Amex.
The 24-year-old said after the game that a knock he picked up when being fouled by Brighton keeper Mat Ryan inhibited him for the rest of the game, but he still played a full 90 minutes and quickly dimissed any fear he might miss next week’s game with Liverpool.
“The knee of the goalkeeper hit me directly in the muscle and it went very hard,” he told Sky Sports. “The rest of the game it hurt a lot. I couldn’t do some movements because the muscle went very hard, but at the end I’m happy that we won.
“I don’t care about this (injury). In one week it will be good. We did a good game today, we did well, and I’m happy I won the penalty because it was important for our game.”
On whether he would be fit in time for the Liverpool meeting, Werner added: “Of course – for games like this, you’re always fit.”
Despite failing to get a goal, Werner looked easily Chelsea’s most impressive attacking outlet. His runs in behind caused real problems for the seagulls’ back three of Lewis Dunk, Adam Webster and Ben White.
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And Werner would have had a glorious chance to score a debut goal had Ruben Loftus-Cheek not played a poor pass when one-on-one with the latter.
“Premier League is different football,” Werner said. “I never played against three defenders like this, so tall, big, massive defenders.
“But the game for me is really fun because especially in the first half I had a lot of space where I can do my runs. I think when we go like this and make the passes we missed today we’ll get a lot of chances.”
