Guus Hiddink dismisses talk of Cesc Fabregas leaving Chelsea in transfer window

Hiddink added: "That's what I'm asking now of the players that they must demand it of each other, not just in their commitment because they're all committed".

Although Costa has been quite unimpressive so far this season, Hiddink is confident that he will hit form in the coming weeks.

The Dutchman is in charge of the Premier League champions until the end of the season following the sacking of Jose Mourinho, with Chelsea sitting in the bottom half of the table as they prepare to travel to Crystal Palace on Super Sunday.

By contrast, Ronaldo-who himself has been somewhat poor by his own standards and frequently anonymous this season-has bagged 25 and seven assists while Messi has 13 and six, respectively, despite missing a large portion of the campaign through injury.

Hiddink employed a very defensive team without the Spanish striker, playing Eden Hazard as a striker and Pedro and Willian in deep roles on the wing. "I don't want to focus on just one player who might need a bit more strength or ­whatever to get back into shape". Despite the unavailability of multiple key players for the hosts, this task promises to be Hiddink's toughest test yet in his fledgling second career at interim boss. First of all he has to prove that he's a good Chelsea player.

Reflecting on the recent results, the coach stated: "It is a matter of the whole team not doing well to December. It depends on the opponents, too". "It's not just one fixed team", the 69-year-old said. "If you look at the goals conceded, it is not just the defence being not good enough, it is a matter of the whole team performance, defensively or offensively". "We need a double occupation for all the positions, and we didn't have that". We hope within 10 days he might be fit again but not ready to play. We want 14 or 15 potentially good players who, when they're needed, can go into the line-up.

Meanwhile, Chelsea declined to comment when contacted for a response to reports that none of their players had a relegation clause written into their contract. One time it might be [John Obi] Mikel.

"You have to give them a stable base on which they can perform, and not get out of confidence when there is a little setback".

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