Antonio Conte's faith in Kurt Zouma helped the Frenchman recover from his anterior cruciate ligament injury.
The Frenchman made his long awaited return in Chelsea's 4-1 FA Cup win over Peterborough and it was almost as if he hadn't been away.
The Italian has to take credit for that as, during the Blues' pre-season tour, he spent time with Zouma and even had him standing in the positions he wanted during the pre-season tour.
“He talked to me like everybody. He said when you're back, I'll want you to play. When you know you have the trust from the manager, it's good,” the defender said.
“He explained to me what he wanted. We're now playing with three central defenders. We watch a lot of videos. It was very good.”
Zouma was delighted to be back in action and believed watching the league leaders perform so well made things easier for his recovery.
“It was an amazing moment. I am really happy to have got through 90 minutes,” he added.
“When you're not on the pitch, I was doing my strength etc. I was watching the lads and they've done very well with the new manager.
“That makes recovery easier. I learned a lot with the boys. When you're winning you're learning. I was out for a long time and I needed to learn.”
There was a nervous moment in the first half when Zouma took a knock but he shrugged it off and got on with the game.
He reflected: “I spoke to myself and said welcome back. You need that moment. Anything can happen in the game. I said that to myself in English. We're in England; we speak English.”
Chelsea travel to Premier League champions Leicester on Saturday.
