Essien absence makes a man of Mikel

John Mikel Obi is relishing a role at the heart of the Chelsea team – and is determined to keep his head this season.

The 21-year-old has made the most of the opportunity presented after a serious knee injury ruled Michael Essien out until the latter stages of the campaign.

Mikel chalked up his 100th Chelsea appearance in the defeat by Arsenal last Sunday.

The Nigerian midfielder, who headed to Stamford Bridge two years after initially agreeing to join rivals Manchester United, had been criticised for a perceived discipline problem in the past – he was sent off in the closing moments of the 2007 Carling Cup final against the Gunners at the

Millennium Stadium in Cardiff and then again twice last season.

However, Mikel is very much now focused on the future.

“I thought about everything coming into this season – about how to improve my game, how to get

myself in the team, and I thought about how to get the cards right,” Mikel said on the club’s official website, www.chelseafc.com.

“This is a season where everything I thought about beforehand is happening.

“I am happy with myself, I am happy about not getting cards because before by this time in the season I would have had one or two reds. So far it has been going well.”

Mikel now feels he has earned the full respect of his team-mates.

He recalled: “I made a speech before a game at Middlesbrough in the dressing room, and after I had finished, John Terry said ’now you are man’. If people like John Terry and Frank Lampard say I am now a man, I am a man.”

Luiz Felipe Scolari’s main concern at the moment, however, is to get his men back to the winning football they played earlier in the campaign.

Chelsea have failed to beat any of their top three rivals at home, where they have now dropped 12 points.

The Blues were also dumped out of the Carling Cup by Burnley and need to beat CFR Cluj next week to qualify for the last 16 of the Champions League.

Much has been made of the apparent loss of form, especially at Stamford Bridge given Chelsea have a 100% away record from seven games.

Skipper John Terry is determined to keep the team focused on their collective goals.

Speaking in his programme notes ahead of the Arsenal game, he said: “Winning major trophies is hard. It takes great quality, athleticism, commitment, stamina and decision-making.

“You have to work and work and be better than the other great teams and players who are working and working.

“We have to play for each other and we have to run for each other, we have to be a close unit, and when we get those basics working at their best, everything else will follow.”

Joe Cole could return from a ankle problem for the trip to Bolton on Saturday, where striker Nicolas Anelka will face another of his old clubs.

Didier Drogba – who has been subject of renewed transfer speculation – will serve the last of his three-match suspension, imposed by the Football Association after the Ivorian threw a coin into the away crowd against Burnley.