Gary Cahill determined to prove his critics wrong following Chelsea slump

Gary Cahill has insisted that he will bounce back following a poor run of form at Chelsea.

The defender has been fighting Kurt Zouma for a place alongside captain John Terry ever since the Blues suffered a 5-3 loss to Tottenham Hotspur on New Year's Day - only their second league defeat of the season.

Cahill was dropped after playing in Chelsea's humiliating 4-2 defeat to Bradford City, which knocked them out of the FA Cup, but returned to action in Sunday's League Cup final win over Spurs at Wembley.

"I have proved people wrong before, and I will do it again," The Express quotes Cahill as saying. "After Christmas I had a couple of incidents, with performances which weren't at the standard I would want them to be, and I don't need anybody to tell me that.

"I reflect on everything that I do, I don't think go around thinking everything is rosy. 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, the criticism is probably what has got me to where I am today."

Chelsea's next game is away to West Ham United on Wednesday.