Gary Cahill: How I beat Kurt Zouma to get back into the Chelsea first team

GARY CAHILL has expressed his relief at forcing his way back into the Chelsea team at the expense of Kurt Zouma.

Gary Cahill and Kurt Zouma at ChelseaGETTY

Gary Cahill (left) and Kurt Zouma have competed for defensive duties at Chelsea this season

Cahill saw his place in central defence lost to Zouma in January, when manager Jose Mourinho opted to play the latter alongside captain John Terry.

However, he earned his place back in time for Chelsea's Champions League home clash with PSG last month, a game that saw Zouma pushed forward into defensive midfield.

And Cahill believes hard work in training earned him a rightful return to the Blues XI.

"I've been working hard to get back in the side," he said. "I want to play football and at the moment I'm doing that so I'm happy."

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Cahill was speaking ahead of England's Euro 2016 clash with Lithuania on Friday night.

England have won all six of their games since being dumped out of the World Cup in Brazil last summer and Cahill is confident of another victory at Wembley.

"It's fantastic to know that at Wembley on Friday we'll be playing in front of a full-house. Hopefully we can put on a good performance," he said.

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