John Obi Mikel who has been in action regularly following the gross under-performance of first-choice midfield pair Fabregas and Matic, has been alleged to be one of the factors responsible for Chelsea's slump in their current campaign.
Alan Hudson during his days in Chelsea
Former English footballer, Alan Anthony Hudson, who began his footballing career with Chelsea, and played there for six years as well as the England national football team, has argued that John Obi Mikel is one of the factors responsible for Chelsea’s slump in their current campaign.
The Super Eagles star, has been in action regularly following the gross under-performance of first-choice midfield pair, Cesc Fabregas and Nemanja Matic.
However, Mikel has failed to impress and it’s perhaps little coincidence that some of his appearances for the Blues have coincided with their poorest results of the campaign.
The midfielder started in the 3-1 loss to Everton, the 2-1 away defeat to FC Porto in the Champions League, the Capital One Cup elimination at the hands of Stoke City and last weekend’s 3-1 loss at Liverpool. He also featured for 45 minutes in the Blues’ 2-1 loss away at West Ham United.
Mikel Obi celebrating after scoring for Chelsea
Alan Hudson believes that sub-par players like Mikel and under performing striker Diego Costa are the chief reason why the West Londoners are struggling this season.
"I think they need a facelift. You can’t carry on with players like John Obi Mikel, you need better players than that in midfield.
"They need a clearout of players. Branislav Ivanovic has been tremendous for them but he seems to have hit a brick wall at right back.
"When they bought Pedro from Barcelona at the start of the season I thought it would give Chelsea more width, with him on one side and Eden Hazard on the other, and they would open their game out a bit.
"They play through the middle too much and rely on Diego Costa up front too much. Costa, in my opinion, is nowhere near as good as people make him out to be," Hudson told Reuters.