Gary Cahill’s forward play against West Ham further stakes his claim to the starting lineup

Gary Cahill took a more forward posture against West Ham on Monday, playing the ball and himself further up field than usual. He is determined to not lose his place as captain or starter.

Gary Cahill has learned many things from John Terry in his time at Chelsea. Despite the difference in age, Cahill is currently doing what John Terry did in Chelsea’s last run to the title. Like Terry and Jose Mourinho, Cahill is telling Antonio Conte “This club is mine, and I belong in the XI.”

Cahill faced the perfect challenge in West Ham’s Andy Carroll. However, West Ham understandably preferred to (mis)match Carroll and Robert Snodgrass against Cesar Azpilicueta on Chelsea’s left. This left Cahill relatively unbothered by the impotent Sofiane Feghouli on Chelsea’s left.

Cahill responded by showing more sense of adventure than usual. He pushed across midfield with and without the ball. He read West Ham’s imbalanced play to keep Chelsea moving forward on the left.

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Cahill completed 15 passes to N’Golo Kante and nine to Marcos Alonso. Only one of those passes (to Alonso) was a back pass. He completed seven passes to each of David Luiz and Eden Hazard. That totals to 31 passes to the midfielder, wingback and winger on his side of the pitch. He sent less than one-quarter of that total to his defensive partner. And – remarkably for a centre-back – he made no passes to Thibaut Courtois.

The fixture against West Ham was the second game in a row where Cahill had such a pronounced forward shift in his passing. The transition between defence and offence over the length of the pitch on Chelsea’s left is complete once Cahill is able to venture forth. Chelsea now have a balanced continuum of ability from centre-back to winger on both sides, reinforced by their midfield tandem.

The ability to blend play along an entire flank will be increasingly important if Chelsea shift to a 3-5-2 next season. With two centre-forwards or a striker and false nine, the wing-backs and centre-backs will have more space to make overlapping runs. Cahill will need to be able to match Cesar Azpilicueta – not to mention Nathan Ake and Kurt Zouma – in forward mobility to retain his place in the lineup.

While no Chelsea player is undroppable*, Gary Cahill is becoming unsinkable. Early season concerns about his grit and resilience are laughable now as he has met every challenge from Chelsea’s opponents and his own teammates.

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Ake and Zouma have many attributes that Cahill lacks, but Cahill will not just cede his place. That alone will count in his favour come next season.

* See next post.