Gary Cahill contends that Chelsea's underperforming players must perform or risk being let go this summer.

Last Saturday, Brighton easily defeated Cahill's former team 2-1 at home, dropping the Blues to 11th place in the Premier League.

In the second leg of their Champions League quarterfinal tonight at Stamford Bridge, Frank Lampard's team will try to overcome a 2-0 deficit against Real Madrid.

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 club.

"As soon as you're not cutting it, you're out the team or you're sold and they get the next best thing in.

"As a player I'd be looking and 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.

have a mountain to climb after last week's 2-0 defeat at the Bernabeu

"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 it is when you're playing at a smaller club.

"If they're not playing well enough I'm sure the club will move them on, so there's pressure from everyone.

"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 you try and get into the top teams because you want to try and win stuff."

Cahill, who played for Chelsea between 2012 and 2019, highlighted the troubles that come hand-in-hand with the club's overloaded squad.

The ex-England international, 37, added: "When you've got so many players, man-managing is really, really difficult, especially at a big club. You've got players all thinking 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."