Christian Pulisic was a Blue before he even set foot on the Stamford Bridge pitch - admitting he would lounge around his home in a Chelsea shirt before joining in the summer.

The American's transfer from Borussia Dortmund was finalised in January, but he finished the season in Germany - meaning he had to wait eight months to finally make his debut.

Pulisic's excitement about joining the west London club has shone through in his performances after a difficult start.

Christian Pulisic has said he was so excited about his Chelsea move he wore the shirt at home

The winger has been one of Chelsea's brightest players already in his first English season

Lampard, celebrating a Pulisic goal, put his faith in the American, who has delivered

The winger fell out of favour early in the season, but he showed impressive grit in convincing boss Frank Lampard that he deserves a starting place - and has not looked back since.

'Just to be in England, to be here in London, playing for Chelsea, it's awesome. I have a confession to make about that, actually,' he said in Saturday's matchday programme.

'During the summer, I had a short time off after playing for the national team in the Gold Cup, and I had this Chelsea jersey at home that was made for me when I signed back in January.

'I was wearing it around my house all the time - I just wanted to be here so bad, I just wanted to get started because I was excited for the challenge, excited for everything about it.'

The former Borussia Dortmund player's breakthrough came with a hat-trick against Burnley

The American made his debut as a substitute in a harrowing 4-0 defeat by Manchester United on the opening day of the season. Since then things have got better - much like they have for Lampard.

From the fifth game of the season against Wolves, Pulisic had a run of five Premier League games in which he played just 36 minutes. However, when the boss finally gave him another chance, he delivered: scoring a hat-trick in a 4-2 win at Burnley.

With five goals, two assists and performances that go a long way to plugging the attacking void Eden Hazard left when he quit for Real Madrid this summer - his start to life in England can only be called a success.

Pulisic started his eighth Premier League game in the 1-0 loss to West Ham on Saturday

'The focus on football at this level means the pressure's always there too, but it's not something that worries me too much or that's important to me,' he added.

'I have myself to worry about and I keep high enough standards for myself, so the pressures from outside don't really affect me as much.

'I expect a lot of myself and I have good people around me who care - the coaches, my team-mates - that are more important, so I try to focus on that.'

The winger played in Chelsea's disappointing 1-0 defeat at home to rivals West Ham on Saturday, but was again dangerous in attack in his fifth straight start.