Begovic happy to be part of Chelsea´s plans

Chelsea goalkeeper Asmir Begovic says it is important for him to know that he is part of the club’s plans after returning to first-team duty on Saturday.

Begovic replaced Thibaut Courtois for Chelsea’s 1-0 Premier League defeat at Swansea City – his first top-flight appearance since November.

And, despite the result, the former Stoke City stopper was happy to be involved.

“It meant a lot, it’s obviously nice to get another start,” he told Sky Sports. “It’s been a while.

“It was nice to play again, I shook off the cobwebs in the first few minutes and after that it was pretty good.

“It’s important for any player to know you’re part of the manager’s plans and part of the club’s plans.”

The defeat was Guus Hiddink’s first in 16 Premier League matches since he took over from Jose Mourinho in December.

Begovic added: “We were expecting a tough game.

“They were still obviously fighting for their lives I guess, fighting to stay in the division and to get to the magical 40-point mark.

“We certainly got [a tough game] and we were maybe just a bit unfortunate we couldn’t get a goal and win the game from there.

“We probably had a couple of half-chances where we’d have liked to have done better, but it just wasn’t to be.”