John Obi Mikel names the four Chelsea players that must start in their strongest XI

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Enzo Maresca’s consistency in his starting line-up has been one of the eye-catching areas from his first few months as the Chelsea manager.

While Enzo Maresca has shuffled his pack for cup competitions, the Blues head coach has stuck to the same core of individuals during the Premier League campaign so far.

There’s a lot of talented players to select from in the Chelsea squad, but the Italian boss has opted to give certain stars an extended run in the XI.

• READ MORE: Three Chelsea players who really deserve more minutes after the international break

John Obi Mikel names four automatic starters for Chelsea

According to John Obi Mikel, there’s four players that should be nailed-on starters in the current Chelsea team.

The former Blues midfielder has named the quartet of Levi Colwill, Wesley Fofana, Moises Caicedo and Cole Palmer as the individuals that must be in the starting XI.

Mikel said on The Obi One Podcast: “You can tell this is a Caicedo team. He’s the man. He’s the number one player on the teamsheet right now. It’s him, Levi Colwill, Wesley Fofana and Cole Palmer. For me, these are the four players that have to start for us.”

Chelsea planned in the summer to give Fofana and Colwill a run as the starting central defenders, something which they’ve stuck to. In fact, they’ve started 10 of the opening 11 Premier League matches together this season, with the only exception being when Fofana was suspended.

Caicedo, who looks reborn in the Blues midfield, has started every league match this campaign. Chelsea fans are even viewing Caicedo as a captain figure after his recent display versus Arsenal.

As for Palmer, the attacking playmaker is the talisman and creative force for his side, taking last season’s form into this one.

Best Chelsea performers this season

There’s still plenty of things Chelsea can do to help them secure a top-four finish this season, including cut out the individual errors at the back and be a bit more ruthless going forward. However, it’s generally looking positive so far for the Blues.

Here is a look at Chelsea’s top 10 highest rated performers in the Premier League so far this campaign:

Like Mikel mentions above, Palmer and Caicedo have to be in Chelsea’s best line-up right now because of the quality they bring. In terms of the defensive partnership, nobody is really threatening to dislodge Colwill or Fofana either.

Stephen Warnock has urged Chelsea to go and sign a world-class centre-back, so it’ll be interesting to see if that happens further down the road.