Mikel praises Ighalo

Nigerian midfielder, Jon Mikel Obi counts down to his 350th game for Chelsea. The club’s official website conducted a Boxing Day interview with him. Find below some of his quotes

On hitting 350 games for Chelsea

‘Personally it is going to be great for me if I can achieve that number.

‘I also want to push on and see how many more appearances I can get. For me it has been a great time here, I still enjoy it and ever since I walked into this football club I knew this was the place for me.

‘I am so happy and so proud of the amount of games I have played for this club and at the same time using these games to win trophies and medals. This is the most important thing. For the past 10 years we have helped build the reputation of this club and Chelsea is up there in world football. I am so proud of what I have achieved and I still want to keep going.’

On the return of Guus Hiddink

‘He is still the same man. He likes to get involved in training, have a bit of banter with the players but at the same time it is all serious business and that is what we need. He is always like a father figure to the team, speaking to the players individually, putting an arm around them and getting feedback from the team on what we think problems are and then trying to fix them.

‘He knows exactly what he wants to do and he did it last time he was here and I think it is going to go the same way. He is going to demand a lot from the players, push everyone to the maximum in training so that when we get to the games we can perform well.

‘In matches he wants his teams to react when you lose the ball, to press and recover it and then play and create chances, and create a lot of them to win games. Also to finish the chances because we have been playing some good football but not getting the goals we deserve so that is one thing the manager will want to bring into the team. He will want us to get into the box and make sure we get onto those crosses that are coming in. I think he is going to bring changes to the play and everyone is on board so we achieve those.’

On Odion Ighalo’s form

‘I am not surprised Odion Ighalo is doing what he is doing. I have chatted with him and played with him in the national team and I can see the talent he has, and even before I have the ball in those games he is already making his run.

‘He is a player who likes to exploit the space behind the defence and is a good finisher around the box. He is someone we need to watch out for.

On seeing the season out

‘We have to win every game now. The top four is still achievable, we can still do it so why not? It is not beyond our reach.

‘The cups are always important as well. We are still in the Champions League, the FA Cup is going to start very soon so we have to take those very seriously at the same time, but we also want to concentrate on the league because we know we have to push up the table.’

via Chelsea FC, The Boxing Day Interview