Following a difficult start to life in west London, during which his impact was limited by injuries, the Frenchman has been a consistent presence in the Chelsea defence during 2025/26.

Fofana’s 26 appearances for the Blues across all competitions is already his highest total in a season since joining from Leicester City in August 2022, with hopefully plenty more to come between now and the end of the campaign.

However, he remains focused on team success over personal achievements.

Speaking prior to Sunday's game with Arsenal, Fofana said: ‘After a lot of injuries, I think I’ve played the most games ever since I came to Chelsea. So I’m happy, I need to stay fit, I need to continue to play more games and try to help the team.

‘So for me it’s very good, I’m happy, but I will be more happy if we win something at the end of the season.

‘My aim is winning a trophy. We have a few competitions to play. For sure, winning the Premier League is a little bit harder, but the aim is to finish in the top three, win the FA Cup, win the Champions League. We are a big club, everyone is focused on that and we try.’

In order to reach those targets, Fofana explained how the Blues are continuing to grow and learn since the arrival of Liam Rosenior as head coach.

Fofana said: ‘We are progressing well. He’s very aggressive [with his style of play], he wants the team to run a lot without the ball and be more direct compared to before. He’s good, I think we play great football at the moment. For sure, we dropped some points, but we learn a lot from that and we are in a good way.

‘At the moment we speak a lot about the defensive line because we have conceded goals. We need to improve, for sure, because it’s not perfect, but I think we are in a good way. Everyone works hard in training and defending set-pieces, we try to work on this. We are in a good way and we try to improve.’

The next step towards achieving those goals comes on Wednesday evening, when we travel to fellow UEFA Champions League hopefuls Aston Villa in the Premier League.

Fofana missed Sunday’s derby with Arsenal due to suspension, but is back available for the trip to Villa Park and knows how important three points could be for our ambitions.

‘It is a big game because we know if we win then we come back close to Aston Villa,’ he added. ‘But if we lose it’s not finished, because we have a lot of games after that.

‘But it’s a big game. Aston Villa is a good team and we will try to play good football, try to be aggressive, to press high and to win the game and take the three points.’