Mikel Obi Showered With Praise After Scoring For Stoke City

Stoke City of England midfielder and stand-in captain, John Mikel Obi has received a rain of encomiums from the English Championship club’s coach, Michael O’Neill, following the former Super Eagles’ skipper’s performance and goal in their immediate past game. Megasportsarena.com reports that O’Neill hailed Mikel for leading by example, as the ex-Chelsea of England star was at his very best in hitting home Stoke’s opening goal, but could not save them from a 3-2 loss to Watford at Vicarage Road on Wednesday night. The Potters took an early lead when Steven Fletcher turned in a low cross from Powell after a well-worked corner, with Mikel involved in the build-up to the goal. Mikel was cautioned for a bad foul on Watford striker Ismaila Sarr with eleven minutes left on the clock, while Eagles’ current assistant captain, William Troost-Ekong was an unused substitute for the Hornets. The former Nigeria international captained Stoke City for the fifth straight Championship game and started in a deep-lying midfield role alongside Jordan Thompson in a 4-2-3-1 formation. O’Neill told StokeonTrentLive: “It was a well-worked corner. Rory Delap does a great job on set pieces. It was a really good piece of play from John Obi and Nick Powell and a nice little finish from Steven Fletcher. It was a dream start for us to be honest.”