Chelsea defender Tomas Kalas hopes the biggest experience of his life will provide the motivation to play a more significant role in the future.

The 20-year-old Czech made an impressive Premier League debut in the 2-0 win at Anfield despite having appeared just twice as an 89th-minute substitute in cup competitions.

He admits he found it difficult to contain his delight when manager Jose Mourinho named him in the starting line-up 24 hours beforehand but now hopes to advance his career some more.

"I didn't know I was going to play so it was a nice surprise," said the centre-back.

"I couldn't celebrate in the meeting but I was happy inside.

"I am not that experienced so this is my biggest experience of my life and hopefully it will be like that all the time as my last big game was in Vitesse almost one year ago."

Victory moved Chelsea within two points of Liverpool at the top of the table, although their win opened the door for third-placed Manchester City to snatch the title as they have a match in hand and a superior goal difference.

The Stamford Bridge side are chasing an unlikely double as they face Atletico Madrid in a Champions League semi-final second leg in London in midweek.

Full-back Cesar Azpilicueta insists they are not thinking about the title as they cannot afford to look further than Wednesday's tie against the La Liga leaders

"This victory has given us a lot of confidence to go into the match with Atletico," he told the London Evening Standard.

"We had a lot of difficulties (ahead of the trip to Anfield): We had players missing and have the match of our lives to come on Wednesday.

"But we played well and showed how strong our squad is. It's an achievement from everyone.

"After the Atletico game we'll see about the title. We have two more games in the league against Norwich and Cardiff but all our attention is on Wednesday."

Chelsea may yet live to regret dropping points against teams they were expected to beat in the league, especially as they have been so impressive against their title rivals beating Liverpool and City twice.

"It (the title) was not our objective but we have proved we have the quality to play against the big teams," Azpilicueta added.

"It's true there were games we didn't deserve to lose or draw and we did.

"Obviously, it's disappointing to lose points like this but it's football. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

"I think you win the league over the season, from the first minute to the end."