Mikel pained by loss, Kelechi, Iwobi play draw

The match that gave Leicester the League: Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Mousa Dembele (left) and Chelsea’s Mikel Obi during their English Premier League match played at Stamford Bridge in London...on Monday. Photo: AFP

Mikel Obi believes Chelsea paid the price for not taking their opportunities in Saturday’s 3-2 defeat at Sunderland.

After leading 2-1 at the break courtesy of goals by Diego Costa and Nemanja Matic, the Blues headed home with nothing after Sam Allardyce’s side scored twice in a three-minute second-half spell. A win may have put some pressure on the teams ahead of them.

A pained Mikel told Chelsea website, “We started the game well and for the first 30 to 35 minutes we had control and we were playing well. We were creating chances, moving the ball quickly and players wanted to get involved.

“In the second half we came out and we wanted to carry on where left off but we didn’t kill the game when we had the chances to do it.

“Then Ivanovic went down, the referee didn’t blow the whistle, we stopped a little and they scored the second goal. From then, they had some momentum, they built on that and got the third goal.”

The Super Eagles captain believes Sunderland were helped by a sell-out crowd at the Stadium of Light, but remains convinced Chelsea should have won the game.

“Their fans were on top of them and supporting them, and rightly so because they have to save their Premier League status,” he said

“They came out to fight and play. But if we killed the game when we had the chances and opportunities I don’t think they would have come back into the game.”

On Sunday, Arsenal practically guaranteed a Champions League spot after playing out a thrilling 2-2 draw with Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium. Eagles pair of Kelechi Iheanacho and Alex Iwobi made the starting line-up for City and Arsenal respectively.

Iwobi was substituted in 59th minute while Iheanacho was asked out in the 71st minute. Odion Ighalo continued on a dry goals spell but was in the starting line up for Watford who lost 2-0 against Liverpool at Anfield.

Ighalo featured for the entire duration of the match. The attacker could be hoping to score in their next game following a poor run of 12 matches without a goal in the Premier League. He has also failed to score for the Eagles this year.