With three games left in his season, Gary Cahill is looking forward to his summer holidays after finishing with a flourish.
Cahill rounded off our competitive campaign with the Europa League trophy in Amsterdam last week, and joined the rest of the squad on the flight to America on Monday, with a friendly fixture against Manchester City in St Louis scheduled before he flies home to link up with the England squad for games against Ireland and Brazil.
Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole will also be on that flight, while the rest of the Chelsea squad flies to New York for a second clash against our Barclays Premier League rivals.
‘We will train for the next couple of days and will be involved in the game on Thursday and then fly back on Friday,’ Cahill explained.
‘It’s not stopped yet. I finish totally on June 3 I think. I’m looking forward to the internationals because I missed the last ones with injury, but then looking forward to a rest at the end of what’s been a long season.’
It is a season that took in a club record 69 matches, but one the defender believes can be looked back on as a success.
‘I think you have to say we finished strongly,’ said the former Bolton man. ‘We got the third position we were aiming for and achieved what we wanted there, and we finished with a trophy. We had ups and downs but like last year we finished well and we can be pleased.
‘You’ve got to judge it by where you are in the league at certain stages. At three quarters of the way we were looking for third and we managed to achieve that. After we went out of the FA Cup we had one trophy left and it was important to pick up some silverware.’
Cahill also spoke of his sorrow for the victims of the Oklahoma City tornado, which struck neighbouring areas shortly before Chelsea landed in the US.
‘It was unbelievable when we landed with the lightning, wind and rain. It’s devastating news from Oklahoma with the tornado, and we only had a fraction of what they did and it was unbelievable,’ he said. ‘I watched the news so I had a picture of what happened. It’s frightening.’
Tickets are still available to see us take on Manchester City at Yankee Stadium in New York on Saturday. Meanwhile, Chelsea TV also have live coverage of both games, with fans in the UK and Ireland able to watch for free.