Cesc Fabregas has said he always intended to stay and fight for first-team football at Chelsea and hopes his impressive form is winning over head coach Antonio Conte.
Conte gave Fabregas only his sixth Premier League start of the season against Swansea City on Saturday, and the Spain international responded with a goal and an assist as Chelsea won 3-1 to extend their lead at the top of the table to 10 points.
After the match, the coach said he would continue to alternate between Fabregas and Nemanja Matic in the Chelsea midfield depending on the nature of their opponents.
But former Barcelona man Fabregas believes his performances have demonstrated that he is willing to battle to earn his right to play.
He said: "Don't get me wrong, I want to play every match, every minute, like all players do.
"But sometimes you have to fight for it. Sometimes the easy way is to escape, to get upset and say you want to leave, to create a drama.
"In my mind I decided: 'No, I want to challenge myself.'
"Not everything comes easy in life -- you have to fight sometimes against situations that you're not used to or that are against you in a way.
"That's what I'm doing, and hopefully I can show the manager that he can trust me in games and in any moment he wants."
The Swansea game marked a 300th Premier League appearance for Fabregas and his 671st in all competitions for club and country at the age of 29 -- 49 games more than the then 32-year-old Didier Drogba had played when he left Chelsea for the first time in 2012.
"What keeps me going is that I feel really good, I feel in great condition to play football for a very long time," Fabregas added.
"I know that in my legs and in my mind that I have played many more games, for someone of 29, that I'm supposed too. But I feel young in my mind.
"Sometimes when you have played a long time and won a lot, you think: 'Ah, I've done everything and know it all.' But then you realise in football you never know everything.
"I'm in a good moment, a good situation. Hopefully I have reversed the situation a little from the beginning of the season to now and can keep playing like that to keep my place."
