For the second season running it was unclear at the start who the manager intended to be the main deep-lying midfielder, but for the second season again, injury to Michael Essien ensured John Mikel Obi became the number one choice.
On return from the Africa Cup of Nations in February, Mikel started every game until his own knee and ankle problems in mid-April ruled him out of the season's two-trophy climax.
In the opening games, Carlo Ancelotti accommodated both Mikel and Essien, the latter playing further forward in a diamond formation, but Mikel was taken off early in the Community Shield and the league opener v Hull and he was dropped for the first away game at Sunderland, but rotated straight back in at Fulham where an uncharacteristic shot from 25 yards that flew just inches wide was as close as he came to scoring all season.
At Wigan in late September as the team's perfect start to the season ended in 3-1 defeat, the Nigerian suffered ankle damage which ruled him out for two months.
His second match back was a toughie - away in Porto against a team traditionally strong at home. Chelsea won 1-0.
'The defence is in a good moment because the midfield in front is working very well and today Mikel did a fantastic match,' Ancelotti said afterwards and retained the player for the big win at Arsenal that followed, although then left him on the bench for the first hour of defeat at Man City.
In December's run of narrow league wins and draws Mikel was involved in every game without playing a single full 90 minutes.
Nigeria were hardly favourites for the Africa Cup of Nations, having only just scraped into the World Cup at the end of qualifying a couple of months earlier, but they were a surprise package, eventually losing to an Essien-less Ghana in the semi-finals.
For Mikel there was an unfamiliar role of playmaker just behind the Nigeria strikers, more a reflection on his nation's paucity in that position than a flowering of attacking ambition in the Chelsea man. His close friend Salomon Kalou described seeing Mikel play Number 10 as 'his funniest moment of the week' on this website.
All that said, when the 23-year-old returned to Chelsea, there was a fresh impetus to his game. He enjoyed one of his best spells of form yet with enterprising long passing in evidence - culminating in a wonderful assist for Didier Drogba to score at Portsmouth. John Terry's celebration with Mikel left no-one in any doubt that the captain admired the pass.
At home to Arsenal in February he played his 150th Chelsea game and by the end of the season had his first league championship winners' medal, although he missed the final three league games and the FA Cup Final. Initially injured by a Kevin Davies foul against Bolton, he broke down a week later at Tottenham, an injury that would eventually deprive him of his first World Cup.
Mikel's own on-pitch discipline problems are long behind him. He was only booked four times in a campaign spent in a highly-competitive area of the pitch.
Ancelotti has revealed he was a similar player in a similar position in his youth and predicts much to come from his player. With injuries hopefully healed over the summer, it will be fascinating to see how Mikel and Essien fit into the 2010/11 midfield.
On return from the Africa Cup of Nations in February, Mikel started every game until his own knee and ankle problems in mid-April ruled him out of the season's two-trophy climax.
In the opening games, Carlo Ancelotti accommodated both Mikel and Essien, the latter playing further forward in a diamond formation, but Mikel was taken off early in the Community Shield and the league opener v Hull and he was dropped for the first away game at Sunderland, but rotated straight back in at Fulham where an uncharacteristic shot from 25 yards that flew just inches wide was as close as he came to scoring all season.
At Wigan in late September as the team's perfect start to the season ended in 3-1 defeat, the Nigerian suffered ankle damage which ruled him out for two months.
His second match back was a toughie - away in Porto against a team traditionally strong at home. Chelsea won 1-0.
'The defence is in a good moment because the midfield in front is working very well and today Mikel did a fantastic match,' Ancelotti said afterwards and retained the player for the big win at Arsenal that followed, although then left him on the bench for the first hour of defeat at Man City.
In December's run of narrow league wins and draws Mikel was involved in every game without playing a single full 90 minutes.
Nigeria were hardly favourites for the Africa Cup of Nations, having only just scraped into the World Cup at the end of qualifying a couple of months earlier, but they were a surprise package, eventually losing to an Essien-less Ghana in the semi-finals.
For Mikel there was an unfamiliar role of playmaker just behind the Nigeria strikers, more a reflection on his nation's paucity in that position than a flowering of attacking ambition in the Chelsea man. His close friend Salomon Kalou described seeing Mikel play Number 10 as 'his funniest moment of the week' on this website.
All that said, when the 23-year-old returned to Chelsea, there was a fresh impetus to his game. He enjoyed one of his best spells of form yet with enterprising long passing in evidence - culminating in a wonderful assist for Didier Drogba to score at Portsmouth. John Terry's celebration with Mikel left no-one in any doubt that the captain admired the pass.
At home to Arsenal in February he played his 150th Chelsea game and by the end of the season had his first league championship winners' medal, although he missed the final three league games and the FA Cup Final. Initially injured by a Kevin Davies foul against Bolton, he broke down a week later at Tottenham, an injury that would eventually deprive him of his first World Cup.
Mikel's own on-pitch discipline problems are long behind him. He was only booked four times in a campaign spent in a highly-competitive area of the pitch.
Ancelotti has revealed he was a similar player in a similar position in his youth and predicts much to come from his player. With injuries hopefully healed over the summer, it will be fascinating to see how Mikel and Essien fit into the 2010/11 midfield.
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