STRIKER Didier Drogba believes he is getting back to his best form.

And it's thanks to the faith shown in him by the club's new interim manager Guus Hiddink.

The Ivorian was dropped by sacked boss Luiz Felipe Scolari following Chelsea's 3-0 defeat by Manchester United in the Premier League in January.

But since Dutchman Hiddink agreed to take charge of the club on a temporary basis until the summer, Drogba has started the last two games in his preferred central striking role.

Now Drogba has set his sights on hitting the kind of form that once made him a feared European striker and paid tribute to Hiddink's confidence in him.

'You haven't lost your Drogba, he was just not playing,' said Drogba.

'Being judged when you are playing is much easier, and to the contrary, when you are not playing you can be criticised.

'At the moment I feel good when I'm on the pitch and I make the most of those priceless moments. I'm not at my best because I think I need more games but I'm giving what I can at the moment.

'The truth is that the manager relies on me, which is a massive psychological boost for a striker.

'Physically, I'm not ready yet, but I need to play to get back in good form. There's no sense of revenge at all, that's my game and that's it.

'I've always been like that, I try to give my maximum and sometimes it's with success.

'You can see from the last two games that Hiddink is working a lot on the shape of the team, the organisation, you have to respect that because we know we will have chances to score goals.'

Crucial

Drogba believes his early strike against Juve could turn out to be the tie's crucial one.

'We have a good chance,' added the Ivorian. 'We have to go there and play. I'm very excited to go there.

'It's been a long time since I scored, so to score that type of goal against that type of team was very important for me. If we qualify, I will say that goal was really important.

'We need to score there definitely. Maybe get a draw, or not to concede and score one. It's not going to be easy but I think we have the team to do it.

'It will also be an open game because they have to score. So I think we will have some chances. I think one goal will be enough. The good thing is we didn't concede so we have to do something with that.'

Indeed, goalkeeper Petr Cech has tipped Drogba to repeat his heroics against Juventus and dump the Italian side out of the Champions League.

Cech said: 'Didier was great - when you've got such a strong guy up front you can really rely on him.

'You can put long balls up to him and he will hold it up and it is always a big boost for the rest of the team to have someone like that alongside.'

PA Sport