Gary Cahill has revealed that he is expecting a bigger challenge from Chelsea's title rivals, as clubs around the West London side continue to spend big and improve their squads.

Both Manchester clubs are breaking the bank to try to knock the current champions off of their perch, as Raheem Sterling completed a £49m move to Manchester City from Liverpool and Manchester United have brought in the likes of Bastian Schweinsteiger, Memphis Depay and Morgan Schneiderlin.

"I think if you look at last season we were strong as it was. We have strengthened. I don't know what else is going to happen from now until the end of the window," Cahill told reporters.

"You've seen last season that collectively as a group we were strong. There's a lot of young players here and we're okay. Other teams have gone out and spent money and it will be very tough. We're the team that everybody wants to beat.

"There's no way of dressing over it, it's going to be hard, the Premier League is always hard. It's long. You have to be consistent for a long period of time so it's difficult but we're looking forward to it."

Chelsea begin their title defence against Swansea City next Saturday.