Chelsea woes a blip, says focused Cahill

Gary Cahill: Focused on cup competitions

Gary Cahill: Focused on cup competitions

Gary Cahill has labelled Chelsea’s woes in the Premier League as a blip and is fully focused on securing some silverware this season.

Cahill, 30, replaced the injured Kurt Zouma in the draw with Manchester United last week and he started the 5-1 mauling of Newcastle on Saturday and he will line up at the heart of the defence against PSG on Tuesday night.

The England man looks likely to stay in Guus Hiddink’s first XI, barring injury, until the end of the campaign with Zouma ruled out for the season with a knee problem.

And Cahill has warned the rest of the Chelsea squad to focus on the team and not their own futures as the Blues chase European and FA Cup glory.

“This club doesn’t need to sell itself to anybody. Everyone knows this club is very successful,” Cahill told the Daily Express.

“You’d like to think this year is a slip-up in the league if we do not finish in the top four.

“Everyone is under contract and has competitions to fight in as hard as they possibly can if they have any ambition to win. What happens in the summer, happens in the summer.

“Everyone should be ambitious. Nobody should be looking anywhere else but focusing on winning something this season.”

Chelsea, who travel to Paris for the first leg clash with PSG on Tuesday, registered only their fifth home win of the season at Stamford Bridge on Saturday as they hammered Newcastle, but they remain a whopping 14 points off the top four. And it looks as though the only way to make sure of playing in Europe’s top competition next season is to win it this time around.

Cahill, who recently penned a new four-year contract, was part of the Chelsea team under Roberto Di Matteo which won the Champions League and the FA Cup in 2012 while only finishing sixth in the Premier League and he thinks they will have to do the same again.

“I remember thinking at the time that we’re going to have to win this to get back into the Champions League. It was all about the next game and the next game. We can’t look too far beyond that,” added Cahill.

“I had the experience of going all the way and it lives with you forever. We have to prove that we’re a good team and good players on the biggest stage. This game is massive.”