Eden Hazard could be forgiven for breaking out in a cold sweat when quizzed about the Premier League brutality that leaves him popping post-match pills to ease the pain.

The Belgian was often kicked from pillar to post in a desperate attempt to quell his irresistible path to being crowned player of the year; no one was fouled more often than Chelsea’s playmaker-in-chief.

But mention becoming involved in regular editions of football’s very own fight club and Hazard just shrugs his shoulders, smiles and looks forward to more of the same.

“Sometimes I am in pain after games,” he says. “I have to take some anti-inflammatories or something like that. But I like to have the ball at my feet and, when I have the ball at my feet, I get a lot of kicks. But this is football.”

Hazard’s card is marked. He knows it and so does his manager, José Mourinho. Yet this supremely confident, superbly skilful 24 year-old is increasingly hopeful that officials will finally grant him the protection he craves. Unsurprisingly Hazard has been bulking up to ensure his body stands up to the rigours of another blood-and-thunder Premier League campaign. “If I don’t work and do the training the defenders will kill me. It’s my job,” he says with a shrug.

Hazard fell back into the old routine during Wednesday’s defeat by the New York Red Bulls, after being on the receiving end of some crunching challenges. “If the referees can protect me, it would be good for me. Because they know now that I get a lot of kicks and I want to be protected by the referee. Whenever I feel pain, I try to keep a smile on my face. Always happy.”

He adds: “Sometimes I get kicked, sometimes not. We have a lot of physios and they work very well because we play every three or four days. It’s important. I am able to stay calm, though. That’s just the way I am. I’m like this. I don’t speak a lot to the players or the defenders. I just want to play, to dribble, to do some skills.

“I never reacted to tackles, even when I was younger. Maybe growing up playing with my brothers helped me. When I was younger, I kept the ball at my feet and my brother tried to catch the ball and, of course, I got a lot of kicks. But it became a habit.

“The worst one last season was against Stoke, with Phil Bardsley. When I see the video … it’s crazy. I just play. I always say after the game that, if I’ve had a lot of kicks, the game was good. I don’t care about kicks – I just want to score.

“I just want to win the game and my job is to score goals and to create something and try to take the advantage against my opponents. I try to play my game and my football, and my football is with the ball – and I never change the style of my football.”

With 14 goals and nine assists to his name last season, it was arguably the year Hazard came of age and illustrates just why Roman Abramovich paid Lille £32m for his services three years ago.

Such was the dynamism and swagger on display that Mourinho has no doubt, when it comes to establishing who the finest three players in the world are, that the diminutive Belgian should be deservedly alongside Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. The elevation in status warms Hazard to his core. An impish grin spreads across his face. “If I want to reach this level, I have to score 40, 50 goals just for one season. I think last season I scored 19. Maybe it’s good but maybe it’s not enough,” he says.

Hazard, who will relish the movement of Radamel Falcao in front of him after the Colombian’s arrival at Stamford Bridge, says: “If someone can score 60 goals, it’s possible. Maybe not in the Premier League but we will see. Maybe. Why not? I just want to bring the trophy to Stamford Bridge

“Everything is possible. If we train hard, if we play like we did last season, we can be better. Of course, in the Champions League we have to do better to reach the final or the semi-final. It will be a good season.”