Gary Cahill warned the pressure is on for Chelsea’s players to prove themselves or face the prospect of being sold as he questioned their substandard performances this season.

This comes after Cahill’s former side were comfortably beaten 2-1 at home by Brighton in the Premier League on Saturday, leaving the Blues languishing in the bottom half of the table in 11th.

Frank Lampard’s side are preparing to try and overturn a 2-0 deficit against Real Madrid in the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Tuesday evening at Stamford Bridge.

Speaking ahead of the game, Cahill said: “Ultimately, if people are not playing up to their level then they leave or they get sold, that’s my experience at the football club.

“As soon as you’re not cutting it, you’re out of the team or if not you’re sold and they get the next best thing in.

“I think that’s the pressures, so I think as a player I’d be looking individually thinking, ‘Am I playing to the level I should be?’ If I’m not I’d be worried in terms of thinking ‘I’m not going to be here’.

“The pressure’s on at the big clubs and that’s the difference, your job’s sometimes easy because you play with better players but the pressure around you is 10 times more than what it is when you’re playing at a smaller club.

“If they’re not playing well enough then ultimately I’m sure the club will move them on, so there’s pressure from everyone.”

Cahill, who played for the west London club between 2012 and 2019, highlighted the troubles that come hand-in-hand with Chelsea’s overloaded group.

Lampard’s squad has been bloated by the 14 new signings made since last May’s takeover by Todd Boehly’s Clearlake Capital consortium.

Cahill added: “When you’ve got so many players, man-managing from my experience it’s really, really difficult, especially at a big club. You’ve got players all thinking that they should play.

“You’re leaving players on the bench that are slightly not happy, you’re leaving a lot of players in the stand.

“It’s really hard to manage that group of players and get the best out of them.”

The former Chelsea captain emphasised the importance of playing for the badge – a similar message Lampard relayed to his players upon his return two weeks ago.

“It represents a big deal (the Chelsea badge). It represents that you’re playing for a huge club in European football and I think, ultimately, no-one knows more than Frank about that and what it takes to play at a high level.

“Playing for the badge at Chelsea – from my experience and from Lamps’ experience and the lads before us – is to go on and challenge for trophies. That’s the whole reason that you try and get into the top teams because you want to try and win stuff.

“This is the last chance they can go on this season to win something, so that should be motivation in itself really for the Madrid game.”