It was his first goal of the season, and his first since March when he netted in the Europa League against Dynamo Kiev.‘We needed it,’ was Willian’s initial response to having been part of a league home win in 2019/20.‘We have been working hard every day, every game and this time we finally got the result, got the three points at home and we have to carry on,’ he added. ‘We have to continue in the same way.‘The game could have been 3-0 or 4-0. In the first half we created a lot of chances and I think we have to be more clinical. We cannot miss chances like this and we have to now think about the next game.’Handed his third Premier League start in a row, Willian looked hungry for the goal which eventually came, with several of the 17 shots we had before the interval coming from his boot.

‘In the first half I tried a couple of finishes but I was blocked,’ he admitted, ‘and then finally in the second half I got one and I am happy with the result. The clean sheet means we get confidence now. We will have more confidence in the next games and we have to carry on the same way.‘If we want to stay at the top of the table we have to win points and win games, so we go for it. We have to keep pushing, and working hard, and I think we can do that.’

At 31, Willian was the second oldest in the team yesterday, so does he feel comfortable being one of the senior players expected to set an example for the younger ones around him?‘I enjoy it a lot,’ he confirms. ‘I enjoy myself, I enjoy it with my team-mates and I have pleasure to play with them and this is what I want - to have pleasure, play, enjoy myself on the pitch and get the results.’