Chelsea’s Gary Cahill: Nemanja Matic is a great player

Gary Cahill joined Chelsea from Bolton in January 2012 Photo: The Sport Review

Gary Cahill has heaped praise on Chelsea’s new signing Nemanja Matic after the Serbian’s impressive performance at Manchester City.

The 25-year-old, who was making his first start since joining Chelsea from Benfica in a £21m deal, impressed as the Blues midfield dominated their City counterparts in a 1-0 victory at The Etihad.

He has started two matches and been fantastic in both of them

Gary Cahill

And Blues defender believes Matic’s arrival has given the west London side a boost after “world-class” Juan Mata sealed a £37.1m move to Manchester United in the January transfer window.

“A fantastic world-class player has left the club, no doubt about it, but we have added another great player and he has started two matches and been fantastic in both of them,” Cahill said.

Matic was named man-of-the-match after the 1-0 win, and the Serbian midfielder felt Chelsea carried out Mourinho’s gameplan perfectly against their Premier League title rivals.

“We prepared very good, the coach showed us some videos of Manchester City and of course they were the right videos to show the quality but also where they make mistake,” Matic said.

“We cannot say what we prepared because it is only for us, but the preparation was very good and a big quality.

“To play in a game like this he prepared us very good, like you saw on the pitch. Everyone knew what they were meant to do which is why we got the result.”