Eagles Star: “I Was Born With It”

FOOTBALL:

Super Eagles midfielder,John Mikel Obi has been adjudged the best passer of the ball so far in the English Premier League,according to the statistics released by the premier league board just before Chelsea hammered Blackpool 4-0 at the Stamford Bridge in London.

The Nigerian, according to the statistics, has completed 299 of 310 attempted, a completion rate of 96 percent – three percent higher than Arsenal’s Abou Diaby, and seven percent greater than Manchester United’s Darren Fletcher, his nearest rivals in the holding midfield role.

And all watchers of the EPL this term seem in agreement that the 23-year-old Eagles star has upped his game in 2010/11.

Upon discovering the statistics, the midfielder was as shocked as he was impressed.

‘No?! 96?! Wow!’ he laughed. ‘It’s good isn’t it? It is a surprise, but I know that passing, even when I was little, was the thing I had, I hardly gave the ball away in youth football.

‘When I came into senior football and at a higher level in competitive games I started to give passes away. Since coming into the Premier League it has been harder.’

He believes it is testament to how well the whole side has begun the campaign, with 17 goals scored in our four matches to date, and just one conceded.

‘It shows how good Chelsea are at the moment, it is not just me,’ Mikel said.’Everyone is working hard, pre-season was misleading because we lost a few games, people were coming back from the World Cup at different times, but now is the most important time and we’re very fit, playing well and happy.’

Mikel has long been a fan of the possession games played by both Arsenal and Barcelona (Barça had 74 percent possession against Panathinaikos in midweek, compared with our 53 percent against Zilina), and while they are impressive, he believes it is Chelsea that are the best side to watch at the moment due to our more attacking, dynamic approach.

‘The styles of football are different, they do play more of the ball, more passes in the midfield, they don’t rush most of the time, and we can do that sometimes, but we play the ball around and can be more physical, we are ready to play any way,’ he argued.

So how would he go about trying to stop the Blues were he an opposition manager?

‘I don’t know, it is not for me to worry about!’ smiled the number 12. ‘Most sides try to get men behind the ball and stay deep on the edge of their area, they sit back and it’s not a problem if they lose, they expect to, but they try to make it difficult for us.

‘When we get an early goal it always helps because the game becomes more open.