John Obi Mikel's Nigeria Eliminated From Africa Cup Of Nations; Midfielder Available In January

Good news everyone*! We won't have a midfield problem in Africa Cup of Nations season after all, because a 2-2 draw with Guinea has knocked John Obi Mikel's Nigeria out of contention for January's tournament. With Michael Essien probably not going to off with Ghana following that knee injury, it looks like Chelsea's midfield is in the clear for that month. Hooray!

*Everyone except Iced O. Sorry buddy.

We'll still going to be missing Salomon Kalou and Didier Drogba, but considering we have approximately five billion strikers to play with that's was never going to be as big an issue as the midfield, unless Fernando Torres gets himself sent off again. Mikel, strangely, is a far more important part of the team than Drogba is, because until Essien is fit again we don't have anyone truly capable of playing in the holding midfield position against top teams should Mikel go missing. And no, Raul Meireles doesn't count, much as we'd like him to.

Anyway, Chelsea fans of the non-Nigerian description should probably be toasting Ibrahima Traore's last minute goal for Guinea that made it 2-2. You've just made that stretch of games in early 2012 a little bit easier for us. Thanks!