• ‘My best years are ahead of me,’ says Chelsea’s £7m signing
• Cahill admits ‘it will be difficult to break into the team’

Gary Cahill has accepted that his form for Bolton this season was patchy, but insists his best years are to come following a £7m transfer to Chelsea, which was completed on Monday. The 26-year-old has been included in the squad for tomorrow’s Premier League match against Norwich.

The England centre-back admits he struggled in a Bolton team locked in a battle against relegation, but has taken comfort from his international performances.

“My form this season has been bit of a rollercoaster, but overall I’ve been pleased with the way I’ve been playing,” he said. “For England I’ve been really pleased, whereas for Bolton it started dodgily before coming into my own over the last couple of months.

“By joining Chelsea from Bolton I’m jumping from one scale to another scale and hopefully having fantastic players around me will make my job easier. I’ve come from a team that is under a lot of pressure and doesn’t have too much of the ball, and I’m not being disrespectful.

“With Chelsea you’re in possession and on the front foot all the time. That will help me and you’ve seen that from me with England. It’s great to be able to get on the ball and express yourself, whereas sometimes at Bolton we played a little bit more direct.”

Cahill, who was linked with Tottenham and Arsenal last summer, revealed he took little convincing to join Chelsea and is excited by the prospect of playing in a team that demands silverware.

“This is a fantastic career move for me,” said Cahill, who is reported to have signed a five-and-a-half year contract. “You always strive to be at the top of the game and coming to Chelsea has given me that opportunity. The manager didn’t really need to sell the club to me, Chelsea being Chelsea. Every competition they enter they look to win.

“To progress I needed to be at a club where there are such fantastic players who are older and more experienced than me. I can really learn from them. My first aim is to work hard in training and then, if given the opportunity, to keep hold of the shirt.

“I’m under no illusions that it will be difficult to break into the team. I’m over the moon to be here and now I want to show people what I’m all about. I’ve signed a long contract and I feel my best years are ahead of me. I’ve come here to win trophies and titles and that’s exciting.”

Cahill has been spoken of as a successor to John Terry at the heart of Chelsea’s and England’s defence, but he is no hurry to replace his new captain.

“There’s no concern from John’s side. It’s exciting for me to work with the likes of John, it will only improve my game,” he said. “I’ve learnt a lot from John playing with England and the partnership has gone well up to now. There’s competition between all of us here.”

Cahill always knew he would join Chelsea, despite the time taken to finalise a transfer that was reportedly delayed by negotiations over wage demands.

“It was a little bit frustrating, probably because the transfer was more in the public eye than it would normally have been,” he said. “I was never in doubt that it would be sorted in the end. I’m pleased that it’s done and now I can enjoy playing football.”

ChelseaBolton Wanderers
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Ashley Cole enjoy another sweet day against his former club as Arsenal fall short at the key moments once again

There was a moment just before half-time when Ashley Cole, fed up with the insults of the travelling Arsenal fans, turned his shoulder towards them and pointed at the sleeve of his shirt. Like all top-flight clubs, Chelsea have the Premier League’s logo embroidered there but, unlike the rest, theirs bears the gold stamp of the champions.

Cole hardly needs to justify his cross-town move in 2006 in terms of the hardest currency of them all. Arsenal have not won a trophy since his departure – their last silverware was the FA Cup in 2005 – while Chelsea, in the Roman Abramovich era, have become one of the twin powerhouses of the English game. Cole has added lavishly to his honours list in west London.

Yet this reminder of the fundamental difference between the capital’s leading clubs was nonetheless extremely sweet for the full-back. Consider the opening goal. It was Cole’s hard and low cross from the left but, more significantly, in front of the visiting supporters, that paved the way for Didier Drogba’s wonderful flicked finish. The Ivorian continues to torment Arsenal. It is now 13 goals in 13 games against them. And as Chelsea turned the screw towards the death, it was Cole who was at the forefront. He had lashed the ball into the net in the 69th minute, only to be pulled back for a borderline offside while he would force Lukasz Fabianski into one of his several late saves.

Arsenal played well in patches and they were in with a chance until Alex added to his back catalogue of free-kick screamers. But this was another case of Arsène Wenger’s team not doing quite enough when it mattered the most. They missed chances up front and they were also alarmingly brittle at the back.

Before the game, Wenger had argued that the true measure of the size of a club ought to be the numbers in its fan-base. Many will disagree. Trophies are surely the ultimate barometer and, as Cole knows, Chelsea once again look set to add to their collection. When the margins are tight, their ruthlessness sets them apart.

It was fast and furious from the off, and also open – which ought to be a surprise in a big game but rarely is when Arsenal are involved, such is the combination of their forward-thinking fluency and defensive vulnerability. Wenger’s team created two golden chances inside the first minute – headed opportunities for Marouane Chamakh and Laurent Koscielny, the second coming gift-wrapped from three yards – and you felt at the time that they might rue their passing. The infuriating Andrey Arshavin and the ever-positive Samir Nasri also went close with first-half strikes.

There was the familiar clash of styles; Chelsea did not mind lumping it into the mixer from distance on occasion – to hell with the aesthetics, it set alarms bells ringing in the visitors’ defence – while Arsenal would not dream of such an approach. Not that Chelsea were all Route One. The measured build-up for Drogba’s goal was a delight.

Yet again, Chelsea’s steel glinted in front of a rapt audience. While Arshavin flickered and frustrated on the left for Arsenal, Florent Malouda rampaged like a man possessed in the same role for Chelsea. While Chamakh jumped out of challenges, Drogba did, well, what Drogba does. The Sébastien Squillaci/Koscielny central defensive partnership was unencumbered by previous psychological traumas against Chelsea. Now they too bear the scars. As ever, Wenger railed on the touchline against some of Chelsea’s physical stuff.

Ramires emerged with credit. Chelsea’s £18m summer signing has had teething troubles in English football but here he pressed relentlessly and covered prestigious amounts of ground. His saving challenge on Chamakh in the 58th minute was crucial but he also showed his vision on the goal with his slide-rule pass for Cole.

As Arsenal pressed onto the front foot in the second-half, Chelsea looked increasingly threatening on the break. Chamakh missed another decent headed chance in the 80th minute – the creator Tomas Rosicky made a difference – but there had been a certain inevitability about the result. The Chelsea juggernaut rolls on.

Premier LeagueArsenalChelseaDavid Hytnerguardian.co.uk