John Obi Mikel feels his hard work on the training pitch is paying off after helping Chelsea open the defence of their Barclays Premier League title in blistering form.
The Blues have recorded successive 6-0 victories, over West Brom and at Wigan and Mikel, who is now fully fit after a knee injury forced him to miss Nigeria's World Cup campaign, is relishing the challenges ahead.
"Towards the end of last season before I was injured I was in good shape and playing almost every week. Then I got injured, had surgery and did my rehab," Mikel said on the club's official website, www.chelseafc.com. "I just put my head down and knew I had to work twice as hard as the other players to get myself ready for the start of the season."
He added: "I feel like it is paying off and I don't want to stop, I want to keep going and working hard in training.
"If you speak to the guys they will tell you I work as hard as anyone else on the training pitch, maybe harder and I just want to keep going like this."
Source: PA
