Callum Hudson-Odoi remained coy over his chances of starting against Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday, which is live on talkSPORT.
The Chelsea winger scored and played the full 90 minutes in a 3-0 win over Malmo as Maurizio Sarri’s side progressed to the Europa League last-16 on Thursday.
Blues fans have been crying out to see Hudson-Odoi feature more for the first-team this season – he is yet to start a Premier League game for his boyhood club.
Speaking alongside Olivier Giroud after the Malmo thrashing, he told BT Sport: “I’m happy with the result first of all. All of the boys worked really hard, we played really well throughout the game and I think our mentality was strong.
“As Oli said, we knew they were going to come out fast because they needed to get a goal so we paced ourselves well throughout.
“I think we deserved the result that we got today. I’m happy with the goal, obviously that’s a bonus for the good work that the team did today.”
When asked whether he has staked a claim to start against City, Hudson-Odoi added: “I don’t know, I feel today the performance of the team was very good and hopefully I did well and made an impact on the game,” which prompted Giroud to call his young team-mate ‘humble’.
Chelsea rejected a £35million bid from Bayern Munich for Hudson-Odoi last month.
It is claimed the 18-year-old handed in a transfer request in an attempt to push through a move to Germany, having become disillusioned with his lack of first-team action at Stamford Bridge after starting just six games under Sarri this term.
But the Blues boss admitted he would have to sell one of his wingers in order to increase the youngster’s playing time.
He said: “You need to understand that, in the same position, we have Pedro, Willian and Hazard.
“I want to remind you that Callum, with this one (against Malmo), played 14 matches.
“There isn’t in England another 18-year-old player with 14 matches in the first-team. So I think that we are using him in the right way at the moment.
“Of course, the 20 matches this season will be 30 matches in the next, and 40 in two years.
“If I am at the club and I want Callum to play consistently, I have to sell another winger. Otherwise the manager is in trouble.”
A night of celebration for Chelsea fans turned sour the following morning when FIFA hit the club with a transfer ban.
The Blues will not be able to register any new players until the summer of 2020 after breaching regulations surrounding the signing of 29 players under the age of 18.
They were also fined £460,000.