Deco says his excellent form this season is down to a determination not to be remembered as a Chelsea flop.

The Portugal international struggled last term after joining from Barcelona and seemed set to leave in the summer. But new coach Carlo Ancelotti convinced him to stay and he has been fighting to improve his reputation at the club ever since.

He told the London Evening Standard: "I didn't want to be a player whose signing was seen as a mistake. I didn't want to go down in Chelsea's history like that, with a real black mark in my career.

"I went to the new coach in the summer and talked to him and he told me what he expected from me.

"He thought I still had the ability to play and that I was an important player. He had known about me for a number of years and that he was counting on me staying in the team.

"It was enough for me to feel reinvigorated and feel I still had time to do what I wanted over here, which is to be able to play, feel good and achieve important things."