Chelsea midfielder Ross Barkley admits his first weeks with Aston Villa couldn't have gone better.

Barkley is on a season-long loan at Villa Park.

"I could not have asked for things to go better so far," he said. "The match against Liverpool was the perfect way to get started. When it was 5-2, we all said, 'We can go for more goals here'. It could have been much more but 7-2 against the champions is a message to everyone else in the league."

The 26-year-old continued: "I have an obsession to get better.

"If you are going through a difficult time, accept it for what it is and try to learn from it. I always try to develop, even on the mental side of the game. I've improved a lot over the years and I'm at that age now ... even in recent years I knew I was ready, if I get regular playing time, to show how good I am."