Gary Cahill fears Chelsea could slip in the League after PSG defeat
Chelsea were bundled out of the Champions League on Wednesday as 10-man Paris St Germain twice came from behind to go through on away goals to the quarter-finals.
Chelsea, already out of the FA Cup, now only have the League title to aim for and face Southampton in a key game on Sunday that they must raise themselves for.
And Cahill, who scored one of the goals against PSG on a bad-tempered night at Stamford Bridge, says the intensity and rhythm of the first half of the season could be a reason for the defeat, adding: "Maybe that's one of the reasons that we didn't kick on.
"Whether you win ugly or win playing great football is irrelevant at this stage of the season. There will now be a massive, massive push to the end of the season to get the job done in the League.
"Wednesday was a massive disappointment. There were two occasions when we could have gone on and won the game but it wasn't to be.
"I was hoping I'd scored the winner. It was late on in the game and we thought we might have enough to see it out from there. But you have to play to the end. Unfortunately for us they equalised and took it to extra-time.
Mourinho congratulates PSG after victory over Chelsea
We are disappointed we couldn't beat 10 men and disappointed we couldn't win at home
Gary Cahill
"It was a very stop-start game, it never got flowing. It kept stopping with fouls, tackles, injuries. It was competitive, tackles going in and whatever else.
"We are disappointed we couldn't beat 10 men and disappointed we couldn't win at home. We will analyse the game individually and as a team and see where we went wrong.
"We didn't play to our potential, the way we can play, especially when they went down to 10 men. You expect to grab the game by the scruff of the neck then. We didn't do that and I'm not sure why.
"The lads are hurting. We'll all go home and reflect on this defeat. We are disappointed but we've got an important last 11 games and now that's solely our focus, on the League.
"It starts this weekend - we have to get back up and running."
Midfielder Nemanja Matic added: "The manager said we didn't deserve to go through if we cannot defend corners and that is true.
"We had one player more and from two set pieces we concede a goal. We cannot allow this to happen.
"But now it is finished, we can't change it. We have to concentrate on winning the league."
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