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Chelsea's Willian credits extra training for increased goal haul

Chelsea midfielder Willian believes his extra work on the training ground is paying off on the pitch, and is pleased with the variety of goals he's scored this season.

The 27-year-old Brazilian has experienced a breakout campaign with the Stamford Bridge club, ranking second behind only Diego Costa for most goals in all competitions.

The former Shakhtar Donetsk man has scored a team-leading five goals in Champions League play, and he credits his strong showing in front of goal to extra work during training.

"I've worked hard on getting myself into more dangerous positions and after training I stay behind to practise my finishing," Willian told the club's website on Friday.

"So far this season has gone well for me in that area. I feel very happy because in the Premier League it's not easy to score goals.

"As well as that, in training we've been doing a little bit more work on crossing, finishing and getting into the box, which helps with the confidence going into matches.

"It's very important to be able to score different types of goals: outside the box, inside the box, free-kicks. Diego Costa is doing fantastically well at the moment, Pedro and Eden Hazard have been scoring in the last few weeks too, so that's good for the whole team.

"Sometimes it's difficult to score three or four in a game, you might just have to get one and try to see the game out, but we are always aiming to score a lot. In three separate games recently we've scored five goals."

Defending champ Chelsea sit a disappointing 12th in the Premier League table, and will visit Southampton on Saturday at St Mary's.