Mikel: Forget the league, we want the cups
CHELSEA midfielder Jon Obi Mikel has urged his team-mates to forget the disappointment of missing out on the Premier League’s top four before it consumes their hopes of a famous Champions League and FA Cup double.
Wednesday evening’s 2-0 defeat at home to Newcastle effectively ended any chance Chelsea had of domestically securing Champions League qualification, but Mikel, determined to avoid further regret, has demanded an immediate response for tomorrow’s FA Cup final against Liverpool at Wembley.
“We have to make sure now that we win on Saturday in the cup final and make sure that we don’t let the cup final go past us,” said Mikel. “It was just one of those days. We played Barcelona the other day. They created God knows how many chances, but we scored. This is football.”
Mikel concedes that Chelsea’s only hope of playing in next season’s Champions League is by beating Bayern Munich in this season’s 19 May final though, as yet, he is refusing to look beyond Liverpool.
“Now we have to concentrate,” he said. “Everyone is going to say that the only chance we have now is to win the Champions League final. It is what everyone wants. We have to forget about it [the Newcastle result] and just make sure we put it right on Saturday.”
Any attempt to overcome Bayern will have to be done without the suspended Raul Meireles, Branislav Ivanovic and Ramires, who received yellow cards against Barcelona, and captain John Terry, who was sent off. Each, however, is available for Roberto di Matteo to select for tomorrow’s showpiece. The Italian will also decide between Didier Drogba and Fernando Torres for a lone striker’s role.
Like Chelsea, Liverpool have also been inconsistent. They have, however, already won this season’s Carling Cup at Wembley, and are expected to recall Pepe Reina, Luis Suarez and captain Steven Gerrard after manager Kenny Dalglish rested them for Tuesday’s 1-0 league defeat at home to Fulham.