Mikel looking to cement his place

mikel

John Obi Mikel is determined to finally make the holding role at Chelsea his own ahead of the Manchester United match.

Mikel's return to the starting XI has coincided with the Blues' remarkable end-of-season surge that has seen them close to within three points of United with three matches remaining.

The 24-year-old has divided the critics since moving to Stamford Bridge almost six years ago.

He appeared to come of age last season when Chelsea won the double for the first time in their history but, after starting this term in the side, found himself out of the team in the midst of the club's worst run in the league for almost 15 years. His return has seen the Blues win their last five league matches and he was able to celebrate his 200th appearance for the club in Saturday's 2-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur.

best performances

He now looks certain to start again at Old Trafford this weekend and told his club's official website: "I had a good run from the start of the season until about January and then I wasn't playing so much.
"Now I have started playing again and I just want to keep playing as much as I can and help the team win games and trophies and this is my aim and this is why I am in this club."
He added: "I just want to help this team win trophies, that is my aim and as long as I am playing and this team is winning games and trophies then I am happy."
Mikel produced arguably one of his best performances of the season on Saturday.
He said: "When you play teams like Tottenham, Arsenal or Manchester, these teams can hurt you in counter-attack and this is one thing the manager and the defenders behind me asked me to do in this game."[BPL]