Gary Cahill has revealed how Chelsea's trophiless season last time out has inspired the club to land a continental treble this term.
The Blues picked up their first piece of silverware of the campaign on Sunday by beating Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 in the League Cup final, while they still remain in contention in the Champions League and Premier League.
Chelsea's European exploits have been put on hold for the time being ahead of their return leg against Paris Saint-Germain in the last 16 of the competition, with attention now firmly focused on strengthening their grip on the English top-flight title prior to tonight's match against West Ham United.
"The league is absolutely huge for us," Cahill is quoted as saying by the London Evening Standard. "We have been working every day toward that goal and we have put ourselves in a really good position. We need to keep pushing. The expectation level while I have been here is not just to compete, but to win something at the end of every season.
"Fortunately I have been able to do that at Chelsea, apart from last year. But that just made the hunger, both individually and collectively, to win something even more when we reported back for pre-season in the summer. The expectation level at Chelsea breeds that, especially in my case.
"When you have come from nothing to winning things, the feeling is absolutely amazing, It's something you want to keep doing and doing. You can see the squad is stronger now and we have one trophy in the bag already. We have gone back to training after the Cup win and the manager has switched us straight back on to the league and how important that is. The League Cup was a competition I have not won before and so it felt fantastic. Now I want the same for the Premier League."
Chelsea are currently five points clear at the top of the league table.