Mikel: New year, new Chelsea

Mikel was part of the Chelsea team crowned English champions in May, but the club's title defence has gotten off to the worst possible start, with manager Jose Mourinho already relieved of his duties and the team sitting in 14th after 20 games.

However, 2016 started on a brighter note as a much improved performance bought a 3-0 win over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park and Mikel hopes the result is a sign of better things to come.

"There are a lot of games to be played and if we can keep putting in these kind of performances the sky is our limit," he said.

"We need to keep believing but we don't want to get carried away, we played well but we need to keep working hard in training.

"Let's hope it's a new year and a new Chelsea. We’ve been disappointed with our results but we’ve shown what type of team we are."