Gary Caldwell
In a fairly abysmal Wigan defence, this is one man that can hold his head fairly high: missing just two games all season and having only been subbed once, the Scot has become an ever-present in the Latics’ defence since signing from Celtic in 2010. In a rare win, in fact only their fourth, for Wigan, the defender earned the man of the match award for the away side and his goal and strong defensive display at the back capped and signified a resilient Wigan performance that will be needed if they are indeed, “ready to fight” as Roberto Martinez has stated.
Steven N’Zonzi
N’Zonzi, even with the return of sharp-shooting Yakubu, was Blackburn’s best performer in their Saturday 3-2 victory over Q.P.R: getting on the end of a clever Junior Holiett ball, following a mazy run through the Rangers’ defence, the Frenchman scored his first goal of the season, rifling in from just inside the box. Just eight minutes beforehand, N’Zonzi had set up the returning Yakubu to open the scoring fifteen minutes into the game. If Blackburn are to stay up, the performances of the aforementioned trio will be largely responsible.
Steven Pienaar
Returning to Everton a year after leaving for Tottenham Hotspur, where he has been criminally underused (just 17 minutes this season, with 14 of them against Everton), Steven Pienaar, according to club captain Phil Neville, is “back doing what he does best at a club he enjoys playing at.” His two performances have been described by the captain as man-of-the-match worthy, and the 2-0 victory over Chelsea was “driven by the classy Pienaar,” according to BBC’s Owen Phillips, with him scoring the first and linking up well with Leighton Baines throughout the game, until he left the pitch on 74-minutes to a standing ovation.
James McArthur
The Wigan midfielder is enjoying a purple patch at the moment: game time was fairly limited for the 24-year old Scot, but the New Year has brought a new lease of life in the first team and the 5’10 central midfielder has now scored two goals in three games and his strike fifteen minutes from time, getting on the end of a parried Victor Moses shot, won Wigan their first game in twelve. Their last was a 2-1 victory over West Brom in early December.
Louis Saha
Along with Steven Pienaar, it seems the players swapping allegiances between North London and the blue half of Merseyside, are wholly benefiting: before joining Harry Redknapp’s freely attacking Spurs side, Saha had only scored once all season, but with his first start for Tottenham, the former Manchester United striker has already doubled his Everton tally, with two deft finishes against the first side he played for in England. His brace, wholly assisted by Emmanuel Adebayor, has seen an instant partnership flair up, which will further hinder Jermaine Defoe’s playing time.
Peter Odemwingie
Back in December, the Nigerian said he was losing sleep over his goal drought: at the time, he hadn’t scored for eight games, stretching back into October, and even then he’d only scored two all season. It was far from the performances of last year in which he scored 15 times and summer interest from Arsenal and Wigan saw West Brom slap an £8m price tag on him. West Brom fans will be hoping his weekend hat-trick will mark a turn in form for the 30-year old forward.
Emmanuel Adebayor
At the beginning of the season I read Tottenham fans’ views that stated Adebayor would offer nothing different to Peter Crouch and that he wouldn’t improve the team: one fan said their two marquee signings, Adebayor and Parker, didn’t match up to Aguero and Silva and unless Chelsea challenged it would be a two horse race between the Manchester sides with Spurs scrapping for the remains with Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool. However, Redknapp has taken Spurs from strength to strength and they are only five points off of second, eight from the top and ten points clear of fourth. The Togolese striker has either scored or assisted 45% of Tottenham’s goal this season and his unselfish play at the weekend saw him assist four, before rounding off the scoring with a goal of his own. He is now the Premier League’s seventh top scorer, Tottenham’s top, and only David Silva has more assists: 12 to his 11.
Written by Jordan Florit for www.maycauseoffence.com/ For more articles visit my website or my Twitter @JordanFlorit
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