MICHAEL ESSIEN believes he owes Chelsea – and aims to repay them by ­helping his club win the Premier League for the second year running.
Ghana midfielder Essien has been a revelation for Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti after returning from six months out with a serious, potentially career-threatening, knee problem.

The absence of the injured Frank Lampard over this last month has not been so keenly felt by Chelsea as it might have been, simply because of the form of Essien, 27, and his holding midfield partner John Obi Mikel.

On Sunday in the 2-0 eclipsing of title rivals Arsenal, Essien and Mikel were dominant forces as they withstood the Gunners’ often mesmerising interplay to pick Arsene Wenger’s side off with goals from Didier Drogba and Alex, to go four points clear at the top.

Essien endured a dismal last season and an even worse summer, as his knee had not recovered enough in time for him to go with his country to South Africa for the World Cup.

Instead, it was long, lonely hours spent working his way back to fitness in deepest Surrey.
He was given a massive morale boost in June when Chelsea awarded him a new five-year deal, showing their faith in an important player. Now Essien intends to pay Ancelotti back in style.
Essien said: “I’m a lucky guy. I’ve never seen that before, where a player is given a new contract when he has been out for six months. That means Chelsea have confidence in me that, when I’m fit, I can go out and help the team. I was delighted with that and I have to pay the club back with my performances. If we can win something this year, that will be good.”
Essien was first sidelined last December by a hamstring problem, exacerbated by a worrying knee ligament injury, while preparing for the African Nations Cup with Ghana in January, that needed two bouts of surgery to clear up.
Six months of intense work later, Essien was ready to resume his career at the start of this campaign – a boost, Ancelotti said, that was as good as signing a new player.

Essien said: “It has been a long wait but I’m happy to be back enjoying my football. It was difficult last year, but injuries are part of the game and you have to accept it.”
Essien though warned his Chelsea team-mates that there is a long way to go on the road to this title, even though Arsenal are now seven points behind and Manchester United five.

He said: “We have to keep playing like we did against Arsenal and then we’ll see what happens. We don’t think about who is coming up behind us.”
Roberto Mancini’s Manchester City, Chelsea’s conquerors the previous Saturday, lead the chasing pack, but Essien questioned their staying power.
He said: “City have made good signings and will be up for it, although I don’t know if they will have the stamina.”