- The Best FIFA Awards 2023, The Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith, London, UK - 15th January 2024. Mikel John Obi former Chelsea & Nigeria player at The Best FIFA Awards 2023. - The Best FIFA Awards 2023, The Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith, London, UK - 15th January 2024. Hammersmith The Eventim Apollo UK Copyright: xDanxWeirx CP_FIFA_Best_Awards_2023_193
Former Super Eagles midfielder, John Mikel Obi, has revealed what Chelsea needs to do in a bid to challenge for the English Premier League title, Soccernet.ng reports.
The 37-year-old donned Chelsea’s blue colours for over a decade and has been very vocal about his former side’s performances, both the good and the bad.
Enzo Maresca’s side started the season on the front foot and were somewhat involved in the title race despite Liverpool blazing past the remainder of the teams. However, the two-time UEFA Champions League winners have not won in their last four league games.
In the past two weeks, Chelsea have drawn against Everton, and have lost to Fulham and Ipswich Town. Most recently, they played a 1-1 draw against Crystal Palace.
Mikel, fuming over the drop in quality of his former side, revealed the Blues’ profligacy in front of goal has caused them to drop points.
“We are creating chances, we are still playing well, we are still doing the right things but we’re not clinical enough, we’re not scoring goals. We’ve talked about getting another top, top striker who can win us these kinds of games, difficult games where if Nicolas Jackson is not firing on all cylinders you can give him a rest and then get someone else to come into the team and try to win us games and score goals.
‘We are not clinical enough, he is not scoring enough goals. He puts himself in the right positions but then he’s not finishing, he’s not scoring enough. He’s not a striker who’s going to get us to the top four or win us the Premier League title. He’s not that striker. I don’t think he can get us over the line in terms of winning trophies. For me, he’s a player who can link up play, he’s good on the ball but he’s not scoring enough goals,” the 2013 AFCON winner said on The Obi One Podcast.
“If we had Victor Osimhen or the guy from Sporting, Viktor Gyokeres, trust me, we’d still be competing for the Premier League. Nicolas is not scoring enough, the finishing, he needs to find a way. For me it’s a bit of a worry because we’re not scoring enough.
Without Cole Palmer, I don’t know where we would’ve been this season, definitely not where we are right now, he’s carrying the team on his shoulders, he’s creating chances, scoring goals, what more can he do?
One goal in six [from Jackson] is not good enough. You talk about top, top strikers, look at [Alexander] Isak at Newcastle, he’s flying, that’s what we need,” the former Chelsea man concluded.
Chelsea are currently 4th in the English top flight, and are ten points behind league leaders, Liverpool. The Blues face a huge task in the coming weeks as they have a tough run of games. Enzo Maresca’s side will play against Wolves before travelling to Manchester to take on Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.
Then, they play against West Ham United, Brighton and Hove Albion, and Aston Villa, before taking on Southampton in the final week of February.
This post was last modified on January 7, 2025 2:20 pm