Chelsea star hits back at fans who rounded on Raheem Sterling - and lifts lid on life inside the dressing room

Back to the Bridge and it doesn't feel like stretching a point by suggesting that the past week offered some light relief for Noni Madueke.

Whatever age group, England camps are enjoyable these days. Particularly the Under 21s, where Madueke is taking on extra responsibility in a team that is seeing its brightest cherry-picked by Gareth Southgate more readily than ever. With three goals in two qualifying victories, against Azerbaijan and Luxembourg, the past week has offered positivity for a man who needs some.

That's gone – and the Young Lions won't reconvene again until September. Back to reality and back to the Bridge.

Recent memories are strong. One of Madueke's final touches there was the stunning late goal in an FA Cup quarter-final, one that finally took the tie away from 10-man Leicester City in a stadium besieged by animosity.

Yet it's a new normal at Chelsea under ownership who have been warned of 'irreversible toxicity' by disenchanted fan groups more likely to jeer than cheer at the moment. Raheem Sterling copped for it during that Leicester game, missing a penalty and booed by a minority as Mauricio Pochettino hooked him when progression hung in the balance.

Pochettino has his dissenters too, lying in the Premier League's bottom half with a batch of talented yet inexperienced players thrown together for serious money. Anything but commanding victory over Burnley on Saturday will do nothing for public relations. Different members of the squad are becoming targets and it was noticeable that a number of youngsters leapt to the defence of Sterling when he issued an apology for his performance before the international break.

Madueke was one of them. And went one further, by then responding to a supporter who