Benayoun looking to impress Di Matteo on Chelsea return

Jul 11, 2012 1:13:00 PM

The Israel international spent the previous campaign at the Emirates but, while he enjoyed his time in north London, he is now keen to extend the Blues' recent success

Chelsea midfielder Yossi Benayoun is determined to impress manager Roberto Di Matteo after returning to the club following a season-long loan at Arsenal.

The 32-year old was shipped out by former Blues boss Andre Villas-Boas but revealed he stayed in contact with those at the club and was delighted to see them triumph in the FA Cup and the Champions League last season.

Benayoun was played sparingly by Arsene Wenger, making just 19 Premier League appearances, but he now wants to step up and become a key figure in any similar success the club achieve at Stamford Bridge.


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"Now I am back at Chelsea for pre-season, the hard part of football, and I'm trying to do my best in front of Robbie, so we will just have to see what happens in the future," Benayoun told the club’s official website.

"A lot has happened since I was last here. Unfortunately it didn't work out with Andre Villas-Boas, results weren't good enough but Roberto [Di Matteo] took the team, and we won the FA Cup and Champions League. I kept in touch and it was just great to see the club winning these trophies.

"I was at home for the Champions League Final, as the next day I was joining up with the national team. It was amazing to watch and enjoy.

"When you thought Bayern would win it, suddenly Didier Drogba was there like always to score an important goal and of course I was so happy for the club, the players and the owner. Hopefully this season the club will win a few trophies again."

Benayoun insisted that he enjoyed his time in north London, despite a slow start to life at the Emirates, after helping the club qualify for the Champions League at the expense of bitter rivals Tottenham.

"First of all the most important thing was that I enjoyed my time with Arsenal, and football-wise, I can separate the season into two parts," he added.

"When you play more you enjoy it more and in the last few months of the season I played more and in important games, and I scored a few important goals so I finished on a high, and we had a strong finish. It was a good feeling, I was happy at the end of my time there, and the fans were very supportive of me.

"The club was happy to finish third. At the beginning of the season people were saying Arsenal would never be in the top four because we were 16th, 17th in the table, but there was a lot of quality in the team and we had a very good run.

"We did it in the end and it was important to finish above Spurs, because we all saw what happened after with the Champions League!"

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