The loneliness of the high-scoring centre-forward is brought into focus in the brand new edition of Chelsea magazine as Didier Drogba gives an insight into operating as the single man upfront.

The Ivorian star striker has built a reputation as the world's best at playing the one-man assault force, battling away and shielding the ball, ready for a flood of supporting players, while also posing a considerable goal threat himself.

Now in a major interview, he lets Chelsea readers into his mind when he is out there in the thick of the action.

'I think about what I am going to do to escape my marker, what I am going to do to score goals,' he tells Chelsea.

'I actually think about the way I am going to score my goal - I close my eyes and try to imagine it and sometimes it doesn't happen. But most of the time when you get it in your head that you are going to score a certain kind of goal, it happens.'

'It's different with two up front, a completely different approach - you have to think with your partner, have the same ideas as him and not think only for yourself in the game.'

Often however, especially as a lone striker, the only player Drogba needs to concern himself with is his direct opponent.

'This is the fight of the game,' he explains. 'It's a mental thing. At one moment you can know whether you have won the battle or lost it and from that you can win or lose the game.

'Normally, you shouldn't think about the defender, you should be strong enough to just concentrate on yourself. But you also need to look at him - how is he breathing? If after one or two runs he is struggling, you say to yourself, "Okay, I'm going to do more runs to kill him."

'But if you see that the guy is really confident, you know it's going to be difficult and then you have to change your game and try to beat him with the help of another player on your team.'

Drogba moves onto to talk in the interview about times when the players on the pitch are thinking much the same as the fans in the stands, supporters he reveals who do not go unnoticed.

Neither has the incredible story of how Drogba and his Ivory Coast team-mates helped unify a homeland divided in two by civil unrest. Chelsea talks the player through the tale.

As it does with former Blue Tore Andre Flo who in one of the more unusual Chelsea stories of the year, is using the quick steps that used to wrong-foot top level defenders to work his way through the weekly challenge of Norway's version of Strictly Come Dancing.

Not only is Flo pictured, finely suited and towering over his dance partner Nadya, he also lifts the lid on the dancing ability of a newly-appointed Premier League manager, as well as discussing his own shuffling.

'The best [dancer among my old team-mates] must have been Gianfranco Zola. I

think his height helped him out, as he has a low centre of gravity.

'I spoke to Roberto Di Matteo the other day and his reaction was the same as everybody else - he started laughing! I didn't show the Chelsea guys any kind of dance moves as I'm normally very shy.

'My aim is to finish in a mid-table position. I definitely want to avoid relegation!'

Another lanky former Blue is in the pages of this month's magazine. Were you one of the fans away at Watford in the late 1980s who began the 'One Rodney Trotter' chant when a young David Lee was trying the make his own name for himself?

If so, you certainly started something that has not been forgotten as Lee does the full Rodders, not only dressing like the TV comedy character for the magazine but also driving the famous yellow three-wheeler around the environs of Stamford Bridge.

'I guess it just stuck, as everyone started calling me it on the back of that,' Lee recalls about his on-pitch nickname. 'A lot of people used to ask if I minded if they called me Rodney, but it didn't bother me in the slightest. I'm a really big fan of the show.'

He reveals in interview another connection between himself and Only Fools and Horses and about his special relationship and admiration for three consecutive Chelsea managers, including Dutch legend Ruud Gullit who impressed Lee from the moment he joined.

'He was a world superstar who took Italy by storm and won the European Championship. But he rolled into the club and you wouldn't have thought it was the same guy - he was one of the boys straight away. I was surprised when he left and that he didn't do more in England.'

Speaking of England, Chelseacatches up with a supporter whose guitar chords helped shake the nation in the mid-1970s. Sex Pistol Steve Jones was recently back at the Bridge mid-worldwide tour and as well as revealing he intends to compose a new Chelsea anthem, he tells the tale of being on air with his daily radio show in his adopted Los Angeles during the Champions League Final.

'I just put on really long records. Lots of Hawkwind!' the ex-punk admits.

Golfer Colin Montgomerie keeps the celebrity fan count on par in this month's magazine while Dan Petrescu, one of the many former Blues carving out a career as a manager, is this month's guest columnist.

Looking to the future, Chelsea has one of the first chances to find out more about the star of last season's run to the FA Youth Cup Final, Gaël Kakuta, who is the featured young player, and there is a look at more playmakers past and present with Chelsea's Top Ten Number 10s - plus a fans' debate, tactics board, technical area and much, much more.

The November edition of Chelsea is available in Megastore and newsagents today, priced at £3.25.