Kepa Arrizabalaga says that the entire Chelsea squad is "on the same page" when it comes to backing head coach Graham Potter.
And the goalkeeper is determined to use Sunday's tetchy win against Crystal Palace as a springboard to send the injury-ravaged Blues up the table.
Kai Havertz scored the only goal on an afternoon where Kepa needed to make several interventions to preserve a clean sheet and Chelsea took the unusual step of announcing the £87m signing of Mykhaylo Mudryk during the first half.
"It is a very important win for us," Kepa said. "The last couple of games was not good. We are in a position that we don’t want to be in. We are 10th in the league, we want to go higher, improve and we are working a lot.
"Sometimes, for different reasons, things are not going in the best way. I hope this win will help us to improve, stay together and go higher."
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Asked if they are all fighting for Potter, who had appeared beleaguered three days previous after a sixth defeat in eight away to Fulham, Kepa was unequivocal.
He added: "Yes, I think we are all on the same page. Everyone is trying their best but sometimes things like the small details make things go in the other direction. At the moment, what we have to do is work, stay together in the same direction and improve. We have a lot of injuries so we are always adjusting in every game. We need to try to push.
“It is a different situation for all of us. In the last years we’ve all been fighting for different things. It is what it is. We have to take it, to stick together because we are 10th. There’s still a lot of games to go higher.”
Kepa also revealed that the squad were in the dark around Mudryk’s arrival and they did not see him until he was being brought on to the pitch at half-time.
Mykhaylo Mudryk was unveiled by Chelsea on Sunday (Joupin Ghamsari/Chelsea FC /Getty Images)“It was a different way to announce it. It felt a bit like, ‘Is it happening or isn’t it happening?’ But then we saw him arrive during half time because we were in the changing room. We are happy to have him. Maybe we can meet each other tomorrow. He is a big player who comes here to help and all the best to him.
Mudryk was Chelsea’s fifth signing of a chaotic window so far and Kepa wants all the arrivals to make a contribution as the Blues, who are out of the domestic cups, focus on the league and Champions League.
“We hope they can all help our season, everyone wants that,” Kepa added. “We have the Champions League coming in February. It is in our head that we are not in the cups so it is about the Premier League and Champions League. We have to go step-by-step, improve and make our team stronger to fight for everything.”
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