After firing Chelsea to a comfortable victory in the Europa League, the midfielder is determined to be ready for his next chance
Ruben Loftus-Cheek says maintaining "good habits" is his only path to regular first-team opportunities after scoring a hat-trick in Chelsea's 3-1 win over BATE.
The often-overlooked 22-year-old issued a reminder of his talents to Maurizio Sarri as he netted twice in the opening eight minutes before finishing off the visitors with a third shortly after half-time.
Aleksey Rios did grab a late consolation for BATE but it was far from enough to derail Chelsea's stroll to a third successive Europa League victory.
Nor did it overshadow the standout performance from England international Loftus-Cheek, who will not be getting carried away in his bid for a first Premier League start of the season.
"The first thing in my head is to keep playing well, to keep sharp in case I do get an opportunity to start," the midfielder told BT Sport.
"I need to keep up good habits, eating well, sleeping well, training well and hopefully my opportunity will come.
"The manager said to win this, and that the target is top of the group. It's a really nice feeling [to perform well]. It's my first hat-trick for a while, even for the youth team.
"Any player will tell you it's nice to score a hat-trick. Hopefully there are many more to come."
Victory at Stamford Bridge on Thursday took Chelsea six points clear of their three opponents in Group L.
Sarri's men will now switch attention to remaining unbeaten in the Premier League when they visit Burnley on Sunday.
fazeza
193
Forget about the Hatrick for a moment Ruben Loftus Cheeks technique and dribbling are world class. He honestly reminds me of a prime Yaya Toure and he needs to get more games to better adjust tactically.
Louleiew
114
Cheek did well for himself. He was criticised by the coach but the English media wanted him to leave the team . He kept his head down, worked hard, listened to what the coach wanted of him and waited for his time. What a response he.gave today, Sarri will definitely have a good headache to start him now. And he should consider as a striker or winger esp if Hazard won't be fit against Burnley as Kovacic and Barkley might not be as suited to these other positions like he is.
mayne_l
84
loftus looks like a versatile player who can play many positions and is an all round midfielder like owen says "like a swiss army knife" but is goin to find it difficult to break into the startin eleven due to chelsea's strength in depth in his postion although i am backin him to be next "big thing"i still feel that the competition at chelsea is tough and with barkley arguably playin his best football at the moment and with kovacic there also his chances are pretty slim buh should he dig deep and show perseveranc and resilience he will definitely earn a spot sooner if not later