By MARK IRWIN
DAVID LUIZ has looked deep into the souls of his Chelsea team-mates and seen their burning desire for glory.
The Brazil defender has no fears about running out of steam against West Ham tomorrow despite the Blues’ punishing schedule.
The Hammers arrive at Stamford Bridge fit and refreshed after playing just twice in the past five weeks — Chelsea have completed nine games in the same period.
Yet Luiz is refusing to buckle and insists: “Not many players in the world have the opportunity to take part in so many big games and it is at times like this that you must play with all your heart.
“Against Steaua Bucharest on Thursday night I looked into the eyes of my team-mates at half-time and I could see they could score more goals and we could win this game.
“By looking people straight in the eye, that is the time you can see them most honestly.
“And even though we had just conceded a goal and were feeling bad, I knew that we had the strength to go back out and win the game.
“Against Manchester United in the FA Cup last Sunday, they scored two goals in the first 11 minutes and might have killed the game.
“But Chelsea showed a lot of quality to come back from that situation.
“We controlled the game in the second half at Old Trafford and showed the true potential of the players we have here.”
Tomorrow’s match will be Chelsea’s 53rd of the campaign and after that they could still have another 17 to play if they go all the way in the FA Cup and Europa League.
But Luiz is ready to run until he drops to ensure a top-four finish for his team and qualification for next season’s Champions League.
He added: “Here at Chelsea we don’t have as many players as the other teams. We have maybe 22 or 23 in our squad when others have 30.
“That makes things difficult for the coach because he does not have so many options when we are playing a game every three days.
“But I am OK. I’m only 25 years old and my legs are feeling good.
“Sometimes before a game I might feel tired but the minute I am on the bench or not involved in a game at all, then suddenly I’m not weary at all!
“For me, it’s not mentally or physically tiring.
“It’s amazing. I don’t like to train because that’s boring but I love to play games and I would play a match every day of the week if I could.
“We have had some good results lately and West Ham is another big game for us so we have to keep winning.”
Rafa Benitez will rotate his squad again with Frank Lampard, Demba Ba and Gary Cahill all likely to return to the starting line-up.
The interim Blues boss said: “We have had a good week against Manchester United and Steaua Bucharest so if we can do well against West Ham it will send out a positive message for the rest of the season.
“We don’t have much time to rest or recover because we are playing every three days but we have to keep a high intensity in every game.
“It was a very physical game when we lost at West Ham earlier in the season but we had enough chances to have won that day.
“We know it will be tough again tomorrow but we can do different things to get a better result this time.”
