John Obi Mikel reveals Chelsea back to fitness after successful pre-season
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/John-Obi-Mikel-c18882, the 24-year-old Chelsea midfielder, revealed the highly successful pre-season tour of Asia had not only given the squad confidence ahead of the new season, but had also helped them regain match fitness and sharpness.
The http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Nigeria-c2970 international was amongst the three players who remained unchanged throughout the final of Barclays Asia Trophy clash against Aston Villa, which the Blues went on to win 2-0. The win over their Premier League rivals ensured the Blues an undefeated
run in pre-season, where they did not concede a single goal.
18-year-old http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Fernando-Torres-c13707 who scored the Blues’ second goal, finding the back of the net
on his first touch.
While his goal was definitely the highlight of the win against Aston Villa, Mikel played a big role in midfield for the London side. The Nigerian has been consistent in the pre-season fixtures and expects a bigger role in the upcoming season under new Chelsea
manager Andre Villas-Boas.
Mikel said on the club’s official website:
“It was good and for us it was all about getting back to our fitness but at the same time it was an important game.
We wanted to win this trophy, the manager really wanted us to win it too, and we went out and did what we had to do.”
A determined http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786 squad was convinced by the young Portuguese manager that victory in pre-season was essential. The Blues did exactly that, putting in excellent performances match after match to ensure they secured a trophy with their new manager, even
if it was just a pre-season trophy.
Mikel revealed the Blues were determined to not let their manager down in the final clash against Aston Villa. They were well prepared for the fixture and it showed as they scored an early goal to take the lead and did their best to maintain and increase
it.
He continued:
“We played well and we stuck well to our plan we had before the game. We wanted to go out there and put pressure on and score an early goal.”
The Nigerian was confident the pre-season tour had helped the squad, including himself return to match fitness. Mikel said he was almost ready to feature in a Premier League match, which is not too far off as the first Premier League fixture of the new season
is set to take place on August 13th.
Mikel said:
“After playing 90 minutes you do feel back to pretty much your normal fitness level. I am pretty close to being ready for a Premier League game.”
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