Jonathan Wilson: The fun's gone out of it for Chelsea's Mikel

[Jonathan Wilson]

The irony is that, this time, it probably wasn't his fault. Mikel John Obi took a lot of the blame for Liverpool's opening goal against Chelsea on Sunday, but he was put in an almost impossible position by Petr Cech's goal-kick. Charlie Adam, anticipating superbly, was already on him by the time the ball reached him and, with both Chelsea center backs marked, and no other player in his field of vision, there were only two options: to attempt a highly risky backpass to Cech, or to try to turn and play the ball forward. Mikel went for the latter, was probably fouled and, when no free kick was given, lost possession to leave Liverpool with a three-on-two it exploited clinically.

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