Chelsea FC News: Another Fantastic Moment for Mata; No Assurance of Starting Spot for the Blues
Juan Mata has only started four times in the English Premier League and has featured only once in the UEFA Champions League, but the Spanish midfielder does not fail to impress everytime he is given an opportunity to take the pitch.
Tuesday's Capital One Cup game against Arsenal was no exception as Mata provided the Blues with the insurance goal at the 66th minute mark, after Cesar Azpilicueta opened the scoring with just 25 minutes in after kick-off.
"We have seen that from him many times before and it is not surprising to see him produce great moments of quality, but it is perhaps a surprise to see him do it with his right foot,' assistant coach Steve Holland spoke of Mata on chelseafc.com.
"It was another fantastic moment."
Holland cautioned the players that no one in the team is assured of a starting spot, unless so merited.
"We need a squad to compete in all the competitions and what appears to be the preferred starting team at the moment won't be the team that is preferred in January, and that team will be different again in March, April and May," he said.
At the moment, Holland is satisfied with how the players are reacting to challenges, like Mata and his goalsccoring counterpart Cesar Azpilicueta, who steps up despite the limited opportunities.
"We need everybody and on the back of Man City, it was a great example of the players showing they are ready for the challenge and if that continues, there is no reason why we shouldn't have a successful season."
Meanwhile, Gunners boss Arsene Wenger stated that mistakes on defence made his team pay dearly and eventually cost them the match.
"When you give the first goal away you give yourself a mountain to climb, particularly against a team that defends well and is good in counter attack,' said Wenger.
"We also didn't create enough chances."