MIKEL LEADS IN THE CHELSEA PLAYER OF THE SEASON POLL

The rating Nigerian midfielder John Mikel Obi enjoys among fans of English clubside Chelsea continues to soar by the day as he is presently in the forefront in the club’s ‘Player of the Season’ polls.
The former FC Lyn of Norway player, when fit, has been a regular feature in the Blues’ line-up and is the catalyst behind the London side’s impressive start to the 2008-09 league campaign.
Last weekend the Nigeria international was yet again in the heart of the Chelsea midfield dictating play to the delight of manager Luiz Felipe Scolari and the club’s band of traveling supporters as they handed Stoke City a 2-0 thumping at the Britannia Stadium.
Mikel’s performance against the Potters however only earned him third spot among Chelsea fans who voted the duo of Florent Malouda and Jose Bosingwa respectively as their top two performers last weekend.
Voting took place on a website dedicated to supporters of the Blues,and Mikel grabbed a respectable 12 percent of the vote against Bosingwa’s 27 percent and Malouda’s 38 percent.
Any player who emerges man of the match after every game earns five points while three points and a point are on offer for the second and third-placed player, and Mikel for his effort against Stoke picked up the solitary point on offer.
The point was however enough to push Mikel to the top of the leader board as he now has nine points in the overall table, a point ahead of the duo of Deco and goalkeeper Petr Cech.
In fourth place is Frank Lampard with six points followed by the quartet of Michael Essien, Ricardo Carvalho, Alex and Malouda, who are all on five points.
Meanwhile, Mikel has confirmed that everything went according to plan for the Blues last weekend against Stoke.
Chelsea won yet again on the road against a Potters side expected to take a direct and an athletic approach.
And Mikel believes the homework paid off just as he insists nothing caught his side by surprise at the Britannia.“We knew the game would be physical and we knew their game was about chipping the ball and running. We talked about it a lot before the game. We did exactly what we were told,” said Mikel.