Second place isn't good enough for Jose Mourinho's Chelsea, and players who don't buy into that ethos could find themselves dropped from the Blues boss' plans - says John Mikel Obi.

Mikel, a veteran of the Portuguese coach's first stint with the club, says it has taken time for players such as Eden Hazard, Oscar and Willian to become accustomed to Mourinho's methods.

But the midfielder says now those players know they are expected to give it all every match, Chelsea can really start to be a force to be reckoned with.

Mikel, asked about the lack of experience players such as Hazard, Oscar and Willian have in winning titles, said: “It’s a matter of letting them know what it means when you come to the end of the season, what the Premier League and Champions League means to this club.

“If you don’t play for Chelsea, you don’t know what these trophies mean to this club. It’s not a team where if you come second, third or fourth, it doesn’t matter. No.

“Every year you have to win something and this is the pressure.

“Now they’re here, they have to feel the pressure and they are feeling it right now. That’s why we just want to keep doing well and now they’re starting to understand that we don’t want to get beaten.

“So we just want to keep going and hopefully come the end of the season they will start to show the winning mentality even more that the manager is trying to install into them and we go on from there and win trophies.”

The Nigerian, who made his 300th Chelsea appearance at Derby on Sunday, also warned that players who don't subscribe to Mourinho's tough methods could find themselves left out of his plans.

Of his boss, he said: “He’s just great. He’s great around the dressing room, around the training ground. I think we have the best manager. He is unbelievable.

“He shows us that in training. We work very hard and he knows how to communicate with the players.

“He always wants us to play in a certain way and give 110 per cent. If you don’t, you’re out.”