Eden Hazard has warned Chelsea fans not to expect him to be at his scintillating best immediately because of the sheer amount of time he has been sidelined with injury.
The Belgian winger only made his first Premier League start of the season in Chelsea's home clash with Manchester City before the international break, which the champions lost 1-0, after impressing against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League three days earlier.
Those starts came after Hazard was deemed fit enough to play again following the ankle injury he sustained at the start of the summer, which forced him to undergo surgery.
He has since featured for Belgium against Bosnia-Herzegovina - a game in which he set up Thomas Meunier's fourth-minute goal - and also scored twice as the Red Devils beat Cyprus 4-0 on Tuesday evening.
But the 26-year-old, who has been shortlisted for the 2017 Ballon d'Or award, has downplayed Chelsea supporters' expectations this season saying that his main priority remains getting game time and slowly re-discovering the kind of form that saw him help the west London club win the Premier League title last term.
"I don't know, I will see at the end of the season. I missed football for three months [and] it's not easy to come back after a big injury but I did," Hazard said.
"I worked out during the summer. I just want to play football. I will miss some games, I will play bad for some games. I just want to play football and try to bring the best of me."
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