Mikel: We Must Recover Quickly

[Steve 10,227]

Mon, 17th Dec 2007

John Mikel Obi says that the Blues played the better game yesterday despite losing in north London.

The Gunners managed to maintain their unbeaten run at the Emirates Stadium after stealing a goal in the dying seconds of the first-half when William Gallas's header at the far post found the back of the net.

However, the Nigerian midfielder believed that, although Arsenal won the game, the Blues put on a better display than our north London rivals.

'We played very well, we played more than them and we had more possession than them,' said Mikel who almost evened the score with a screaming shot from the edge of the box, only to be denied by Almunia.

'I think the game was a good game with good teams.

'We came out to play a good game and to win the game but obviously we didn't. We missed the points but we played well so we are very disappointed about that.'

Avram Grant also felt that we had deserved to take more from the Sunday afternoon battle with Arsenal, which saw John Terry leave the field with an injured ankle.

The positive attitude that Grant has instilled within Mikel and his team can be seen as the 20-year-old number 12 looks forward to our next challenge against Liverpool in the quarter final of the Carling Cup this Wednesday.

'We have to keep going and we have to win our next game. We have a very big game against Liverpool so we have to go back and win that one.'

In just over a month's time we will lose a large percentage of our midfield and strike force when Michael Essien, Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou all leave England to represent their countries in the African Cup of Nations.

We will also lose Mikel, as he flies back to his home continent in the new year, but the young star will not lose his focus on the Barclays Premier League and wants the Blues to be in the strongest possible position before he leaves for Ghana.

'We have some tough games to play so we will have to keep working hard and make sure we get back to our winning ways and get over this defeat.

'We have to go down to practice and make sure we keep working hard and make sure all the things we didn't do right against Arsenal we correct and we do right next time.'

Listen to the live commentary from the Arsenal game on Chelsea Plus now or keep up to date with all the goals from any game with the Chelsea SMS service.

Source: Chelsea FC

Edited December 17, 2007 by STEV3O

[Elliott 7]

Sadly mistaken.

[misschief 24]

Did Kenyon stand in the tunnel dishing out the script after the game yesterday or what?