After the consecutive defeats to Bournemouth and Watford, Chelsea boss Antonio Conte decided to give the players three days off, as the Blues wouldn’t play for a week.

Chelsea skipper Gary Cahill has revealed that he suggested to the boss to give everyone a break, so the team can take out time to be with their families and rest, seeing it as a welcome distraction to clear the heads of the players.

The rest indeed worked as the Blues won the following game against West Brom 3-0.

Cahill told the London Evening Standard: “I thought it was a great opportunity to mentally freshen our minds up”

“I mentioned the idea of taking more days off to the coach. I just felt that there were a lot of bad feelings around the place.

“It was important for everyone mentally to get away. Sometimes it’s unhealthy to be in the same environment all of the time, especially when there is a lot of negativity around for whatever reason.

“This was the first time I could remember this season that we had a free week in between games.

“I thought it was a great opportunity to mentally freshen our minds up and physically freshen the bodies up.

“Everyone knows we do a lot of physical training on top of the games we are playing.

“So to take ourselves away from the surroundings, for partners to be with their family and kids, gave us that distraction so that we could come back and refocus on the job.”