5 Things Chelsea's Oscar Must Do to Take His Career Forward

Chelsea are flying right now.

Top of the Premier League and going strong in the Capital One Cup, Jose Mourinho's side have also qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League with one game to spare, winning their qualification group.

At the heart of Chelsea's early success has been the form of Cesc Fabregas and Eden Hazard, while Diego Costa's goals have carried a significant threat.

A recent part of the picture has also been Oscar.

Chelsea's No. 8 has rediscovered his best form of late, returning to the levels we saw last season when Mourinho very publicly chose him over Juan Mata.

The latter was sold to Manchester United in January and with the battle won, Oscar's form dropped off significantly.

It was a concern and raised valid questions about Oscar's ability to become one of the greats in world football.

He's back there now, but what must the Brazilian do to take the next step forward in his career?

Bleacher Report looks at five areas.

We touched upon it in our introduction slide and if Oscar is to progress in his career, he needs to show he can stay on form for an entire campaign, not the first six months.

The Brazilian has not long turned 23, so he remains young in his development. His inconsistency up to now can be passed off as youthful development.

Now is the time he needs to find that consistency, though, if he is to become vital to Jose Mourinho's team.

Mourinho has been at pains to stress the fact titles aren't won in November, explaining his team's good form right now will mean nothing if they aren't lifting the Premier League trophy come May.

If Chelsea are to do that, Oscar can't allow his form to drop off in the way it has in his first two seasons at Chelsea.

The trend is such that, ahead of Christmas he has been mesmeric, but after the holidays, woeful.

Chelsea need match winners in March and April. Oscar needs to ensure he's one of them.

Jose Mourinho has made no secret of his admiration for Oscar and his ability as a footballer.

What Oscar needs now, however, is some help from his coach when it comes to managing his game time.

When Chelsea signed Oscar in 2012, he arrived at the club without a summer break having represented Brazil in the Olympics.

That season he still went on to make an incredible 70 appearances for club and country, including featuring at the Confederations Cup.

In 2013/14 he made 54 appearances for Chelsea and Brazil. Again, due to the World Cup, he wasn't afforded a full summer off.

Oscar has played an incredible amount of football in the past two years and needs to be given rest to avoid burn out whenever possible.

Given how his form often tails off at the back end of the campaign, it suggests his body and mind grow tired. He's young, it's going to happen and if it's not managed properly, will impact him as he looks to develop.

He needs Mourinho to protect him.

For all the praise lavished on Oscar, his ability to break up play and cause problems for the opposition rearguard, his goal return needs to improve.

He scored 13 goals in all competitions for Chelsea last season, building on the 12 from his debut campaign.

That's a respectable return, but when considering the output of others in his position, Oscar needs to be doing more.

At Chelsea Eden Hazard is ruthless in front of goal, while across Europe there are more examples of elite players such as Arjen Robben, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, who aren't goal shy.

Oscar isn't a like-for-like player in that regard, but he operates in a similar area of the pitch and to progress from his current position, the goals must be forthcoming.

Add goals to his game and he will become an incredible player.

We mentioned him in the previous slide and right now Eden Hazard is threatening to blow everyone away at Chelsea.

Oscar's attributes complement Hazard's mesmerizing skills, yet while the latter may be easier on the eye to watch, the Brazilian can't allow that to impact his own progression at Chelsea.

Oscar needs to keep pace with Hazard's development, not falling foul to the shadow he is casting at Stamford Bridge right now.

If he doesn't, he will be left behind.

We saw it at Manchester United when Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney were coming through together.

Like Hazard and Oscar, the pair were of a similar age, but Ronaldo's development soon overshadowed Rooney and he has since gone on to bigger and better things.

Oscar can't allow the same to happen to him.

It seems that with every transfer window that comes, there is a move that makes history.

This past summer it was Luis Suarez's move to Barcelona or David Luiz from Chelsea to Paris Saint-Germain.

A year earlier Gareth Bale joined Real Madrid and Neymar finally arrived in Europe, joining Barca.

For any player, with the riches on offer and the chance for a glamorous move elsewhere, it must be tempting.

Indeed, with a club willing to invest such significant funds, the attention will be flattering, if nothing else.

That's often enough to turn a player's head.

Should Oscar become the player Chelsea hope, it won't be long before those very temptations will be dangled like a carrot before him.

When that time comes, he needs to show restraint.

Jose Mourinho is building something very special at Stamford Bridge right now and Oscar is a key part of it.

Chelsea's attacking midfield has been nurtured to suit the needs of him and Eden Hazard and in that environment, the Brazilian will flourish.

He doesn't need to leave Chelsea. He has everything he needs in west London.

Garry Hayes is Bleacher Report's lead Chelsea correspondent. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter @garryhayes