"He's the man, he's the number one player" – Unlikely character has become Chelsea's heartbeat claims former Blue

Yesterday at 12:30 PM

Jon Obi Mikel sure knows how to start a podcast: make sure you make plenty of headlines by being strident in your opinions.

With the international break upon us, he knows it's a great chance to earn some eyeballs, and he's started this week by naming the four players he considers undroppable for Chelsea:

"You can tell this is a Caicedo team. He's the man. He's the number one player on the teamsheet right now. It's him, Levi Colwill, Wesley Fofana and Cole Palmer. For me, these are the four players that have to start for us," the former Blues midfielder said.

Enzo Maresca's steady selection and quick establishing of his preferred team was a notable feature of his early reign at Chelsea, but recent times we've started to see more and more changes. Those 4 have been ever present when available, however, and we can't see any of them dropping out anytime soon.

Humble Caicedo taking centre stage

It's fascinating to hear someone claim this is a "Moises Caicedo team," but it's hard to disagree. Not only is he one of the best performers, he's also playing in a position which is always central to everything going on. Cole Palmer, for example, is always going to be your match winner, but he plays a position which can see him very peripheral for long periods before he makes the decisive intervention.

Perhaps it's just because he's such a quiet and humble guy that we didn't expect him to become the heartbeat of the team so fast – but there's no question he has. He's the most consistent performer we've got right now, and if everyone else in the team was playing at that level we'd really be looking at the top of the table with serious intent.