Benitez: Chelsea have improved under my management

The 52-year-old claims to have had a big impact on the individual form of a number of key players within the squad

Chelsea boss Rafa Benitez believes the club have progressed and made giant strides under his guidance this season, highlighting individual improvements from a number of key players as evidence.

The 52-year-old interim coach was placed in charge of the west London outfit in November until the end of the season, replacing Roberto Di Matteo, and since then the club have dropped out of the Champions League and fallen 22 points behind league leaders Manchester United,

However, the club still retain hopes of lifting some silverware this term, after progressing through to the FA Cup semi-finals and Europa League quarter-finals, with Benitez drawing particular emphasis towards the development of several players within the squad during that time.

"A lot of the players are growing and improving all the time," Benitez told reporters.

"Victor Moses, Cesar Azpilicueta, Ryan Bertrand and David Luiz, who was criticised at the beginning, have all improved.

"Juan Mata is scoring, Oscar is growing and even Fernando Torres was doing well at the beginning and getting goals, although he’s not scoring now.

"Another player who is improving a lot is Frank [Lampard]. He was scoring at the start of the season but he’s scoring even more now."