Despite Chelsea manager, Antonio Conte, insisting that his team can’t yet be considered as favourites — not before seeing the table at New Year’s at least — his defender, David Luiz is of the firm belief that his team are among the favourites to win the league.
The Brazilian defender seemed confident about his team’s chances and insisted that the end is what truly matters. “We are title challengers. It will be like this until the end. It is still just the beginning, the end is more important than the beginning,” he was quoted saying by the Daily Mail.
“We need to keep our feet on the floor. We try our best every match and try to improve our level. We know the Premier League isn’t easy.”
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The former PSG star then went on to praise his current boss for his informative nature before stating that they must always be alert and focused.
“Mr. Conte works hard with us and tries to give a lot of information for us to prepare the plans for the games in the best way. It is important to continue this way. If you sleep for one minute you start to lose and then you lose one, two, three matches. We have to be awake all the time.”
Change in system has worked wonders
Ever since the Italian changed the system to a 3-4-3, Chelsea’s fortunes have changed — and so has Gary Cahill’s with it. After an indifferent patch of form, the England international has found his golden touch back.
Playing as the left-sided defender in a 3-man defence, the former Bolton man warned his doubters to never write him off.
“Don't write me off,” Cahill warned. “It's easy to criticise someone after certain games and it's fair enough. Sometimes you haven't had a good game. But people are very quick to write people off. If you are at the top level you have to be mentally strong.”
“For me, it was a matter of time before I turned the corner and got back to the performance levels that I should be at,” he added.
The 30-year-old Englishman also stated that he is pleased with recent performances, something that reflects his character.
“The last four games I'm back to where I should be, I'm playing well, I feel good. We talk about character of the team, but sometimes you have to show character yourself and that's what I feel like I have done,” he stated.
Sometimes beat myself up, says Cahill
The Chelsea centre-back also felt that while criticism is one thing, writing someone off isn’t an advisable thing to do with someone who has as much mental strength as him.
When it comes to facing criticism, Cahill said that he is as self-critical as it gets and never lets a bad game be brushed off without analysis and reflection.
“I will never go away from a game having played badly and dust it off as if it doesn't matter,” he said.
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“That's just not me. Everyone deals with things differently, but I certainly reflect. I sometimes beat myself up personally, but in terms of my frame of mind, when things don't go well, I want to be there,” he added.
He then went on to heap praise on Antonio Conte for the belief that the Italian has exuded towards him, despite not starting the season well.
“The manager comes into this as well. There was a time, maybe after Arsenal away, where I could have been pulled out of the side, but he showed belief in me.”
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