Chelsea defender Gary Cahill is ready to prove his worth to boss Jose Mourinho, despite the emergence of Kurt Zouma in recent weeks.
Cahill started Chelsea’s 2-0 League Cup final win over Tottenham at Wembley on Sunday but the England international has been behind Zouma in terms of regular starting place alongside John Terry in recent weeks.
However, after playing on Sunday, the centre-back is now ready to prove his ability and push the young defender for the starting place.
“I have proved it time and time again. I proved it when I was at Bolton and I got the England call-up. I was told ‘you can’t play for England, you’re at Bolton’,” Cahill said.
“I proved them wrong. I came to Chelsea and it was ‘oh you can’t play Champions League, you can’t do this, you can’t do that’ and I proved them wrong.
“It’s that fire in your belly. Although you’d wish not to have it, it [dealing with criticism] is probably what has got me to where I am today. This is no different. I will come out the other end without a shadow like you see today.
“That [the 5-3 defeat] was a bad day at the office for the team. Certainly since I have been at the club we have been fortunate enough to have positive results against Tottenham.
“It was said before Sunday’s game that that result would have no reflection on the final and so it proved. I use it as motivation to prove people wrong time and time again.
“You are not a robot. Up until the halfway point in the season it was no problem – but I have come through it time and time again. It’s not the first time I’ve had have a dip in levels of performance.”