Mikel targets title push

And the Blues midfielder declared he and his team-mates were determined to slash the 25-point gap to Manchester City and Manchester United in one fell swoop this term and mount a genuine title challenge.

Chelsea secured an amazing Champions League and FA Cup double last season but finished sixth in the Premier League, and Mikel said: "It hurts us that it was such a big gap last season. We spoke about it. We don't want that to repeat itself."

He added: "We don't want a repeat of last season when we slipped out of the top four but, for us, the top four is not the target. The most important thing is to win the trophy. We want to regain the trophy."

Chelsea have certainly made a statement of intent on that front in the amount they have spent this summer, but they will need all the new players they can get in a season that sees them compete for silverware on seven fronts.

One of those trophies has already slipped away after they were beaten by champions City in Sunday's Community Shield, but what was a fourth successive defeat in the build-up to Saturday's Premier League opener at Wigan did not faze Mikel.

He said: "We're on the right track and if we keep doing what we're doing now, we'll be fine this season. It's going to be a long season. It's going to be too many games. It's about how you cope with it, how you manage the players and how you get through the games."

He added: "We want to defend the Champions League, we want to win the Premier League and, hopefully, we want to challenge for every cup."

That could be made more difficult as Chelsea gradually try to implement a more attractive style of play and finally bring the best out of Fernando Torres.

"You can see Fernando fitting into the way we want to play and hopefully he can do the job," said Mikel, who did not believe there would be a major change of approach. "This is what we demand from him. This season, I hope he scores more goals for us."

Source: PA

Source: PA