ALVARO MORATA can finally see sunlight coming through the clouds of his Chelsea career.
The Spanish striker admits he has made heavy weather of his 15 months at the club.
But he believes he is getting mentally and physically stronger to deal with the heat of the Premier League.
Two goals in Sunday’s 3-1 win over Crystal Palace took his tally to four in four Prem games and boosted the £57million star’s confidence.
Morata, who claims England is the toughest place in the world to be a centre-forward, said: “Sometimes people think I want to miss but there are good goalkeepers and good defenders and it is very difficult.
“Now I’m having more chances than last year.
“Last year, I could only score with headers but now I can score in different ways.
“The most important thing is that, finally, my mentality is OK.
“Sometimes I am the centre of all the criticism when the team loses. But it doesn’t matter.
“I had a period where if it was raining, I would be angry because it was raining. If I missed, it’s because the pitch was too wet.
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“It was only excuses. It is not good.
“Everyone can have a bad period in their life.
“The important thing is to find the right balance. Now I have, and I’m very happy.
“Only my wife knows how big the last year was. In the last month of last season, I couldn’t have been more down.
“When you touch the limit, the only thing you can do is to come back.”
Even Maurizio Sarri, who replaced Antonio Conte as Chelsea boss in the summer, claims Morata’s self-confidence is “fragile”.
A niggling back injury darkened the striker’s already grey mood in his first season here.
That ended with him being left out of Spain’s World Cup squad.
Sarri now faces a dilemma over whether to drag Morata to Belarus for Thursday’s Europa League match against Bate Borisov.
With Olivier Giroud injured, he has few options up front.
Morata, 26, says there can be no let up in the Premier League at least, with Chelsea second and just two points behind Manchester City.
He said: “After Christmas, everything changes.
“If you are in the top three you have the chance to fight for the Premier League.”
Morata missed out on a hat-trick against Palace and confessed he was guilty of over-thinking.
He said: “I suffered a lot in the past so I needed to score three.
“I think I missed because I had only this in my head. If I don’t think, probably I score.
“This is the league with the best strikers in the world. It’s very hard.”
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