Pizarro scored his second goal of the season at the weekend - both have come against Birmingham City- and is determined to make more of an impact after a slow start to his Stamford Bridge career following his transfer from Bayern Munich.

Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou are away on African Cup of Nations duty and Andriy Shevchenko has been out with an ankle complaint, meaning further first-team starts are likely for Pizarro.

"I am trying to do my best, every day and in each training session, so I hope things can get better," he said.

"We have five strikers at the moment but most of them are away or with injury so it is important for me to play and I am getting my chance. I hope I can use it and keep playing.

possible peak

"But we need a lot of players because we are playing in a lot of tournaments. The training changes a lot, so everybody has a chance."

Meanwhile, Branislav Ivanovic has trained for the first time with his new team-mates after signing from Lokomotiv Moscow last week.

The defender, 23, told the club's official website: "I've been training individually and I am hoping to get into peak condition as quickly as possible.

"Of course I am not at my possible peak but, with training, it will come."

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