The matchday programmes for our festive home fixtures against West Ham United (21 December) and Aston Villa (28 December) are on sale now.

Edouard Mendy speaks exclusively in the West Ham programme, discussing his move to Chelsea, his early impressions of Premier League football and the remarkable speed with which he is picking up English.

'I already spoke a bit of English, because England has always been a country that appeals to me,' he said.

'My sister has lived here for a while too so we sometimes talked in English – almost like it was to get me prepared!

'I asked people to help me with the vocabulary used out on the pitch. Everything that I need to help the team. So I picked that up quickly. Now I’m working on everyday English, so that I can have a full conversation with people without a problem. That’s more what I’m focusing on now, but the on-pitch vocabulary came much quicker. "Man on’" "turn" and "time" are the first things I learned, then it was things like "away" and "keeper"'.

You can also hear from Gianfranco Zola on his first encounter with West Ham and his now-legendary tormenting of Julian Dicks on the way to scoring one of his great Chelsea goals in 1996.

In order to beat the Christmas postal rush, you can also order your programme for the Aston Villa game now, featuring an in-depth interview with Olivier Giroud, who has had a year to remember.

'Some of the people have said to me, "You are like fine wine – you get better with time!"', the 34-year-old explained. 'Well, it’s true that I’m on a good run with the team. It’s all about focus and determination to do things right. Sometimes you have that kind of night, and obviously Sevilla was a special one.

'You feel like everything is going in the right way, you feel blessed, and I really enjoyed that. When you have the chance to be decisive in a very important moment, you need to get yourself in a positive mood to do things right. That’s what happened for me that night in Sevilla, and it was a good moment for me to show my focus and my positive energy.

'It’s a big part of my personality, my strong mentality. I never doubt my qualities and always keep the confidence, even when I don’t play – it’s massive for me, and that’s what I try to do every single day. I think it’s nice to show people that you are always ready, no matter what.'

The publications team also caught up with Michael Ballack for the Villa programme, and he reminisced about our incredible 4-4 draw on Boxing Day 2007, when his late goal looked to have won it for Chelsea, before our visitors had other ideas.

You can read the full interviews with Giroud, Mendy, Zola and Ballack, as well as the usual columns from within the club from Frank Lampard, Cesar Azpilicueta, Emma Hayes, Andy Myers and Ed Brand, plus much more, by ordering both programmes now for £3.50 (plus P&P).

* Please note programme delivery is subject to Royal Mail, not guaranteed for matchday