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Ben Chilwell hopes next summer\u2019s European Championship will prove third time lucky, having had to sit on his hands during the last edition before missing the World Cup through injury.<\/p>\n
Gareth Southgate is not blessed with options at left-back, but a mixture of misfortune and injury has restricted the 26-year-old to just 18 caps since making his debut in 2018.<\/p>\n
That frustration means Chilwell, a Champions League winner with Chelsea, is still waiting to make his first appearance at a major international tournament.<\/p>\n
Chilwell went to the rearranged Euros two years ago, but \u2013 as well as having to self-isolate due to coronavirus regulations \u2013 was overlooked in favour of Kieran Trippier and Luke Shaw.<\/p>\n
The pair were the left-back options again 18 months later in Qatar as a hamstring injury ruled out the Chelsea full-back, who is hoping to catch a break at Euro 2024.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI missed the World Cup, but I was at the Euros and didn\u2019t play,\u201d Chilwell told talkSPORT and BBC Radio 5 live.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course, Germany in the summer is something I am really looking forward to.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am hoping to have a great season with Chelsea and England, that will put me in good stead, and I can hopefully go out to Germany and do well.\u201d<\/p>\n
It has long been a case of when rather than if England\u2019s place at Euro 2024 is rubberstamped, with their qualification campaign continuing against Ukraine in Poland this Saturday.<\/p>\n
Chilwell said \u201cthird time lucky would be nice\u201d as he looked ahead to next summer\u2019s finals in Germany and few would back against him fulfilling that goal given his ability to dig deep and overcome disappointment.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI think you have to be strong mentally to come through a lot of stuff that I\u2019ve gone through and a lot of stuff that a lot of footballers go through,\u201d the left-back, who does not have injured Shaw to compete with this month, said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t get to become a professional football player without having ups and downs, and it is a cliche but it really is about how you deal with them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love playing football, so that\u2019s what I always come back to when I when I\u2019m going through the tough times.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chilwell is not alone in dealing with frustrating periods on the sidelines for Chelsea and England, with right-back Reece James laid low again right now with a hamstring complaint.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone talks about how strong we are as a team at Chelsea when me and Reece play together,\u201d said the 26-year-old, who is captaining the Blues in James\u2019 absence. \u201cOf course, we want to play more together. We\u2019re trying!<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully Reece can be back in the next few weeks and I am feeling good physically so hopefully, when Reece is back, push on and do well for the rest of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n
The hope at Chelsea is that Mauricio Pochettino will bring improved robustness and fitness to the group on top of on-field improvements.<\/p>\n
Chilwell says the new head coach\u2019s pre-season regime was as gruelling as people say, but it has left him feeling the \u201cbest I\u2019ve felt physically in a long time\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe manager was constant in telling us that this is only for our benefit,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to make our bodies more robust, we\u2019re going to be able to play more games this season, less injuries.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we all completely bought into it and so far, personally, I\u2019m feeling like that is the case and, like I said, feeling the best I felt physically in a long time.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully I can stay injury-free for the season and then going into the summer as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chilwell is confident that with a little patience Chelsea \u201cwill come good\u201d under Pochettino as the former Argentina international looks to shape a large squad full of new faces and promise into a coherent, effective unit.<\/p>\n
Among the ex-Tottenham manager\u2019s tactical tweaks in the opening weeks of the season has been a new advanced role for the 26-year-old.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not even been wing-back, it\u2019s been on the wing,\u201d Chilwell said. \u201cOver the past few years, I\u2019ve gone from left-back to left wing-back to left wing\u2026 playing striker in a few years!<\/p>\n
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\u201cIt\u2019s something new (but) something that isn\u2019t completely new to me, to be honest.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I\u2019ve been playing left wing-back, they\u2019re kind of similar positions that I get in occasionally that I\u2019ve found myself in this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m playing up there and the expectation when you\u2019re playing in a front three is to, of course, score goals and get assists.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThat\u2019s something that hopefully I can build on in the next few weeks and decision-making, when to shoot, when to pass.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course, I\u2019d like to have contributed with a few more so far this season but, like I said, I\u2019m working hard to put that right.\u201d<\/p>\n