Gary Cahill helped Chelsea seal their 21st league victory of the season against West Ham on Monday evening (Picture: Getty)

Gary Cahill insists he does not care how Chelsea are perceived as long as the club go on to bag the Premier League title.

After an indifferent start to the season and a tactical change, the Blues have opened up a 10-point gap at the top of the table.

Jose Mourinho appeared to take a slight dig at his former side last month, when he said Chelsea have won games this season mainly through ‘defending well’.

‘They score one goal and they win,’ the Manchester United boss said. ‘They defend a lot, they defend well.’

But England centre-back Cahill says Conte’s charge, who won their 21st league game of the season against West Ham on Monday evening, are top of the league for a reason.

‘I don’t care how we are top of the league. I think we are top of the league for a reason,’ Cahill said.

The Blues reclaimed their 10-point lead in the title race at the London Stadium (Picture: Getty)

‘We have been working hard, playing well, not conceding goals and scoring goals. That’s why we are top of the league.’

Despite emerging as short favourite to reclaim the Premier League title come May, Cahill is adamant that the title race is not over.

Chelsea remaining fixtures

Sunderland (H) - Sun 21 May
Arsenal FA Cup (N) - Sat 27 May

‘We just want to keep that going. I cannot stress enough it’s not over, we’ve got a difficult month next month which is going to be important,’ he added.

‘We’re focused, we’re not listening to any noise, we know what we’re doing, we’re fully ready to try to see this over the line.

‘I just see that we have put ourselves in a good position.’

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