Mikkelsen just finished 2nd in last rally and was faster than Loeb/Sordo in Sweden and Argentina respectively (and not slower than them in Monte/Mexico). He was fighting on podium in every rally of the season he drove so far. But yeah they will definitely kick him intermediately if they could....

Also this season quite a lot of drivers have had a rally where they were really slow:
Meeke - SWE, Latvala - COR, Lappi - multiple, Loeb - SWE, COR, Suninen - Argentina.

Looks like this will be a slow one for Mikkelsen.