Gary Cahill praises Diego Costa's return to form, youngsters

Chelsea's 2015-16 season didn't have the best outlook at the turn of the year, as José Mourinho departed the club and an old acquaintance of ours in Guus Hiddink took helm of the club. But now with two months into 2016, the Blues can still salvage the season as the club are still in the chase for two cup titles in the FA Cup and the Champions League, as well as having a Europa League classification in their sights through the Premier League.

One of the factors that heavily influenced Chelsea's recurring hope is striker Diego Costa's return to his goalscoring form. After scoring only 6 goals in the first half of the season, Costa has already surpassed the mark with 8 goals this year; and defender Gary Cahill praised Costa for his recent performances.

"It is perfect timing to have Costa back to his very best with the big games we have coming up. He's scoring goals and long may that continue. I'm sure for a striker if you start scoring goals, you think you will score every time you get on the pitch. He is in that mind-set now."

"People aren't talking about him not scoring for three-four games or whatever any more like earlier in the season. His record is great at the minute, so he feels confident. Ultimately for us if we have Diego in form and scoring goals, it's great for the team."

-Gary Cahill; Source: London Evening Standard

Costa's return to his goalscoring self has been coincidental with Chelsea's current run under Hiddink, having only lost one game with the Dutch manager's guidance. Hopefully next week we can turn the draw around on PSG at the Bridge, and proceed with a miraculous run at the Champions League.

Another current theme within the team is the use of youngsters by our managers, especially with the proven players giving lacklustre performances throughout the season. Most recently, Kenedy, Bertrand Traoré and Baba Rahman have shown their potential on the pitch when given significant minutes to play. Cahill is expecting to see more good shifts from the Blues' young stars going forward.

"It's a good chance to play them now because ever since I have been here, there have been so many massive games. I'm not saying just 'throw youngsters in' because you can. The main thing is if you're good enough, you get time to play."

"It's down to the manager what he decides to do over the next few months but they are all young boys with bright futures. Kenedy showed fantastic individual brilliance for the first goal last night, Traoré did well too and Ruben has a new contract, which is a great move."

"I have spoken highly of [Ruben Loftus-Cheek] since I started training with him. He can be a big player. The three lads are heavily involved in the first team squad now. It's pleasing and they're there on merit because they're good enough to play."

-Gary Cahill; Source: London Evening Standard

Having young players playing a part in the team's recent achievements does give us fans a 'feel-good' sentiment, but our ultimate goal should be winning. As long as we keep deciding line-ups based on merit rather than pay-checks or any other measure stick, this club can only go a long way.