Chelsea defender Andreas Christensen admits he has found the past few weeks at the club "difficult" because of the mistakes he has made in recent games.
The Dane, who turns 22 on Tuesday, has been one of Chelsea's brightest lights in an overall disappointing season - with the defender having cemented his place in Antonio Conte's team with a string of solid and assured performances.
However, Christensen has suffered from a handful of mistakes in recent games, one of which included giving the ball away against Barcelona in the Champions League last-16 first-leg tie in March that resulted in Lionel Messi equalising.
The 21-year-old was left out of Chelsea's starting XI that drew 1-1 with West Ham on Sunday and, speaking ahead of the game, Christensen admitted he hasn't found the past few weeks easy.
Speaking in Chelsea's match-day programme for the clash against the Hammers, Christensen said: "It's been a difficult time recently.
"But I'm happy with the overall season. It's easy to just look at the recent games, but I try to remember I played probably 25-30 games with no mistakes at all before that.
"Everyone knows you can't go through a whole season not making a mistake, as a defender - it's impossible.
"That's the bad part about our job - when there's a goal, there's a good chance you're the one getting pointed at, but you still have to take responsibility next time you get the ball and do what's best for the team.
"It helps when you've got good team-mates who take care of you and a manager who believes in you. That's only made things more comfortable for me, and now I want to progress even more."
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