Chelsea defender Gary Cahill: 'The belief is there, we can go on another run'

Blues got back to winning ways against Sporting on Wednesday night

Gary Cahill in action for Chelsea this week (GETTY IMAGES)

Gary Cahill believes Chelsea can go on another long unbeaten run – and also believes they will need to

The easy manner of Wednesday’s 3-1 defeat of Sporting Lisbon at Stamford Bridge blew away any lingering hangover from the club’s first defeat of the season, at Newcastle last weekend. That ended a 23-match, 102 day unbeaten start to the campaign. Now Cahill is looking to start again, beginning on Saturday at home to Hull City.

“We believe we can go on another unbeaten run because we're playing well and we look good,” said the England defender. “We've lost one game this season. Of course the belief is there.

“It's important we do [go on a run],” he added. “because at the end of the season we want to be top of the league. You can see how close [Manchester] City at this moment are to us, even with our unbeaten run. We think about that. How hard we worked to go on that unbeaten run and how well everyone spoke about we were playing, but yet we're just three points in front with many games to go. That's why the manager was playing down the unbeaten thing. It's so hard. Everyone realises it’s unbelievably hard to go through a season without losing a game.”

After Stoke the attention will return, albeit briefly, to Europe and Monday’s Champions League draw. Manager Jose Mourinho spoke of ‘sharks’ swimming in the draw, but Cahill is confident no team will want to draw his one.

“I think we're a good team. I think we're certainly playing well. That unbeaten run that lasted so long, where we are in the league this season, and how we're playing. I'm sure people will have taken a lot of notice of that. I think we're dangerous but there are loads of dangerous teams going into the next round. We're no different. I'm sure teams won't want to come up against us.

“Last year we were close, I feel that we're going stronger this season so let's see. It was crazy when I first came - within six months we ended up winning the competition. On the flip side, the following year we went out [at the group stage] with 10 points. Last year we were so close. I feel that not just me, but as a team we've got more experience than last season. It hurt us a lot to go out in the semi-final. Let's just see who we get. We've done all we can at this stage.”