@ LDN : To my mind, Essien being a part of our starting XI this season is out of question. Even if he manages to find a form similar to his old self (not his self of last season of course). We shouldn't consider this option for the mere reason we are meant to be in a transitional season, and Essien is 30 years-old next year, so we should focus ourselves to play players who will have a long term role at our club. At the moment, our formation is a 4-3-3 and I don't think we'll change that any time soon (at least not this year). So, there are three spots where Essien could play. The first one, is the holding midfielder spot. At the moment, this spot is occuped by Romeu, who - despite the risk of him returning to Barça - is a long term choice for playing this role (add to that the fact he is doing pretty well at the moment). The second one is the right midfielder spot. That's where Ramires plays. At the moment, Ramires is by far our best midfielder. Plus we have seen the influnce he has on our game when you compare our midfield with him and without him, that's the day and the night. Games after games he seems to be more influential, and somehow he is now the boss of the midfield. Furthermore, just as Romeu, he is also a choice for the long term. Therefore, we shouldn't break his dynamic by benching him at the favor of Essien. Which leaves us with the third and last spot, the left midfielder spot. This is a non-starter. Even though Lampard is far away to be great, we have to start him otherwise a midfield Essien - Romeu - Ramires would be dramatically way too much negative and uncreative. To conclude, he could be a good choice to rotate the squad and thus to give a rest to our starters, but he shouldn't be considered by any means a part of the starting XI. And we should sell him in the summer while we still can get some money out of him and before we have to amputate his two legs.