Juan Mata, the Spain international had been frozen out of the team this season by Mourinho upon his arrival. There were questions being raised about Mata’s attitude of late, which was being cited as the reason behind his axing from the first team.

The omission of Mata in recent games came as a shock to everyone given the fact that he was one of the most influential players at Chelsea in the last couple of seasons. There was also a lot of speculation around his future as he failed to break into the starting 11 and instead warmed the benches in recent games.

That however failed to deter him from the task at hand, which was to win Mourinho over with his performance as and when he got the chance. This is exactly what he has successfully managed to do as he played a key role in salvaging a draw against rivals Tottenham in Saturday’s London derby.

The midfielder was named on the bench once again for the key clash at White Hart Lane, and Chelsea were trailing midway in the first half following some eye catching play from Tottenham which led to Gylfi Sigurdsson’s opening goal, and Tottenham maintained the lead till half time.

Mourinho turned to the 25-year old and brought him on for the second half in place of Mikel. Mata made an almost immediate impact as he had a goal waved off for offside and it was his free kick which was met my John Terry’s header to restore parity for the Blues. Following the goal, Mata got involved more and more as the game progressed, however he was unable to find a second goal in the game which ended as a draw with both the teams sharing the points.

Metro now report that Mourinho has been convinced of Mata’s qualities and that he will be featuring the play maker in Chelsea’s next outing. He said, “Mata will play against Steaua Bucharest in the Champions League,”

“He has shown himself in the last two matches.”

With Mata earning his spot in the team, do you see him retaining his position for the near future?