Ruben Loftus-Cheek became the first Chelsea player to score a hat-trick in Europe since Didier Drogba in 2006 on Thursday.
After firing Chelsea to a comfortable victory in the Europa League, the midfielder is determined to be ready for his next chance
Speaking after Chelsea's 3-1 victory over FC BATE in the Europa League, he said: "It feels really good."
Ruben Loftus-Cheek says maintaining "good habits" is his only path to regular first-team opportunities after scoring a hat-trick in Chelsea's 3-1 win over BATE.
The often-overlooked 22-year-old issued a reminder of his talents to Maurizio Sarri as he netted twice in the opening eight minutes before finishing off the visitors with a third shortly after half-time.
Aleksey Rios did grab a late consolation for BATE but it was far from enough to derail Chelsea's stroll to a third successive Europa League victory.
Nor did it overshadow the standout performance from England international Loftus-Cheek, who will not be getting carried away in his bid for a first Premier League start of the season.
"The first thing in my head is to keep playing well, to keep sharp in case I do get an opportunity to start," the midfielder told BT Sport.
"I need to keep up good habits, eating well, sleeping well, training well and hopefully my opportunity will come.
"The manager said to win this, and that the target is top of the group. It's a really nice feeling [to perform well]. It's my first hat-trick for a while, even for the youth team.
"Any player will tell you it's nice to score a hat-trick. Hopefully there are many more to come."
Victory at Stamford Bridge on Thursday took Chelsea six points clear of their three opponents in Group L.
When asked if it was his best performance for Chelsea, he admitted: "It's up there. [It is] My first hat trick in a while - it feels nice. "Any player will tell you it's nice to score a hat-trick and it feels good."
The 22-year-old added: "I'll get this [ball] signed and put in a glass box - hopefully [there will be] many more to come."
Despite a good summer at the World Cup with England and a succesful season prior to that on loan at Crystal Palace, Loftus-Cheek has struggled for game time in the Premier League this season, and is one of the young England players pundits have suggested would benefit from more time on loan to gain more playing time.
When asked how hard it has been for him to get a place in Chelsea's starting XI, he said: "The first thing in my head is to keep playing well. It's really important to train as hard as I can to keep sharp for times like this when I get opportunities to start and come on.
"First things first to keep good habits - eating well, sleeping well and training well and if I keep doing that, good things will come."
Chelsea's attention now is to remain unbeaten in the Premier League when they visit Burnley on Sunday. Will Loftus be the next Chelsea Icon?
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