Barrie's View

Wantaway star Christopher Samba will be one of the most sought-after Premier League stars during today’s transfer window deadline day.

The Blackburn Rovers captain has been seeking a transfer request all month and has not played for Rovers since pulling a sickie before their 3-1 victory over Fulham on January 14.

The Congolese centre back has insisted he wants to play for a club with more ambition. Tottenham Hotspur, Queens Park Rangers and Paris Saint-Germain have all been heavily linked with the 6’4″ giant this month.

Blackburn Rovers have been demanding more money for their star player with QPR’s recent estimated bid of £6.5 million being rejected.

Chris Samba is one of the highest-rated centre backs in the Premier League currently, and here are some of his stats for the past three and a half seasons in a Rovers shirt:

Queens Park Rangers are 2/5 favourites with Sky Bet to purchase Samba today. Tottenham come in at 5/1 second favourites, whilst the rest of the field are long shots. Arsenal and Sunderland 20/1, whilst PSG are out as far as 33/1.

Data provided by Opta Sports.

As Mario Balotelli coolly tucked home a stoppage time penalty to give Manchester City a dramatic 3-2 victory over Tottenham on Sunday, the Premier League leaders have now matched last season’s goal tally of 60 within 22 games this season.

Manchester City have picked up 54 points with the 60 goals scored in their opening 22 games of the 2011/12 season; that’s an improvement of 27 goals and 12 more points than they had this time last season.

One of the obvious stand out improvements on last season was the 6-1 victory at Old Trafford earlier this season; having only scored 1 goal in their two Premier League meetings with Manchester United last season. City also failed to score 6 goals against any team in both games combined last season.

Everton were the only side to take 6 points off Manchester City in 2010/11. Roberto Mancini’s side have already improved on that this season with a 2-0 victory at the Etihad Stadium and go into their next meeting as odds-on favourites to 6 points on the season.

Last season, Manchester City dropped 4 points against to-be-relegated Birmingham City whilst they have taken maximum points from their three games with each of the newly-promoted sides this season.

One noticeable statistic in the table below shows the improvement of their chance conversion rate this season; moving up from 15.7% to 19.9% on average. Their number of shots per game is also up from an average of 10 last season to 13 a game twelve months on.

The ever-entertaining Mario Balotelli was at the centre of attention once again this afternoon as he was involved in two major incidents in the second half of Manchester City’s 3-2 victory over Tottenham.

Manchester City took the lead early in the second half when Samir Nasri latched onto David Silva’s clever through ball to thump the ball into the roof of the net. Less than 4 minutes later, Joleon Lescott doubled the league leaders’ lead when he scrambled home an Edin Dzeko flicked-on corner.

Tottenham responded immediately with help of an awful header from Stefan Savic that allowed Jermain Defoe one-on-one with Joe Hart. The England striker, playing in replace of the ineligible Emmanuel Adebayor, took it past the England goalkeeper with his first touch before neatly slotting home into an unguarded net.

Stefan Savic, playing alongside Joleon Lescott with Vincent Kompany suspended and Kolo Toure at the African Cup of Nations has looked a liability at the back for Manchester City in the few appearances he has made for them during his debut season.

5 minutes later Gareth Bale curled home a goal of the month contender from outside the penalty area after collecting a pass from Rafael van der Vaart. The first 4 goals of the game scored within an exciting 10 minute period.

With less than 10 minutes of the game to go, after Mario Balotelli let fly from 25 yards, he appeared to stamp on a grounded Scott Parker as he landed. Replays don’t defend the charismatic Italian too well.

After Jermain Defoe failed to connect cleanly with Gareth Bale’s ball inside the 6 yard box, Balotelli latched onto a hoof up field from Gael Clichy to be brought down inside the penalty area by Ledley King.

The Tottenham captain had previously been unbeaten in a Tottenham shirt since 28 August 2010 until Mario Balotelli himself stepped up to coolly convert the resulting penalty.

Manchester City now have a 6 point lead over Manchester United who kick off shortly at Arsenal, and are 8 points ahead of Spurs with 16 games to go.

Data provided by Opta Sports

2010/11 PFA Players’ Player of the Year Gareth Bale has recovered after rupturing his ankle ligaments at the end of last season to put him some impressive statistics through gameweek 21 of this season.

The Welsh winger scored an impressive 7 Premier League goals last season and has already matched that number in the 20 games he’s featured in this season.

Gareth Bale has also become more of a team player this season, completing more passes (649) in 1,800 minutes compared to the 643 passes he completed in 2,451 minutes during his PFA Players’ Player of the Year season.

The ex-Southampton full back’s pass accuracy is also up; from 74% throughout last season compared to the 82% success he’s produced so far this season.

Notably, Bale is not attempting as many passes as he was last season down the left wing, but cutting in the wing more often and playing a pass instead. In recent games, Bale has found himself playing further in from the touchline than he did at the start of the season.

Gareth Bale has scored against Wigan Athletic, Queens Park Rangers (2), Fulham, Bolton and Norwich City (2) so far this season. His 7 goals last season came against Stoke City (2), Blackburn (2), Arsenal, Newcastle and Fulham. He also scored an infamous hat trick against Inter Milan in the Champions League…

Here are Gareth Bale’s Premier League statistics for the 2011/12 season so far:
(Key: MP: Minutes Played GS: Goals Scored SonT: Shots on Target SoffT: Shots off Target CP: Completed Passes PA: Pass Accuracy C: Crosses CA: Cross Accuracy A: Assists CC: Chances Created TW: Tackles Won I: Interceptions YC: Yellow Card RC: Red Card FKW: Free Kicks Won F: Fouls C: Committed SD: Successful Dribbles)

And here are Gareth Bale’s Premier League statistics for 2010/11:
(Key: MP: Minutes Played GS: Goals Scored SonT: Shots on Target SoffT: Shots off Target CP: Completed Passes PA: Pass Accuracy C: Crosses CA: Cross Accuracy A: Assists CC: Chances Created TW: Tackles Won I: Interceptions YC: Yellow Card RC: Red Card FKW: Free Kicks Won F: Fouls C: Committed SD: Successful Dribbles)

Mark Hughes’ reign as Queens Park Rangers manager begins today at St James’ Park… sorry the Sport Direct Arena, with his side having dropped into the relegation zone following Blackburn’s 3-1 victory over Fulham yesterday.

Only Wigan Athletic (3) have fewer wins in the league than QPR so far this season to give you an idea of the task ahead for Mark Hughes.

Wigan Athletic, Bolton Wanderers, Blackburn Rovers and Wolves are all shorter odds to be relegated than the 2/1 Ladbrokes are offering for Rangers to drop back down to the Championship at the first attempt.

Neil Warnock hasn’t left the greatest of squads behind at this level. Paddy Kenny’s 58% shot save percentage is one of the lowest amongst all goalkeepers in the Premier League this season. Only Heidar Helguson has scored more than 2 goals through 20 games.

Queens Park Rangers have kept 4 clean sheets this season, with Anton Ferdinand and Danny Gabbidon in the middle. Hughes has already signalled his intentions to bring in two new centre backs, being linked to both Chris Samba and Alex already.

Up front, Carlos Tevez was temporarily favourite to sign for Queens Park Rangers on Thursday although a move to Loftus Road looks very unlikely. A move for Roque Santa Cruz would be more realistic for Hughes and the Hoops…

Whilst Hughes needs to bring in a few players this month, it’s his work with both Blackburn Rovers and Fulham that give me confidence he will maintain Queens Park Rangers’ Premier League status at the end of the season.

Hughes will get 100% out of his players. He won’t stand for any poor performances from Traore or tantrums from Taarabt. I would expect an improvement in fitness levels also with Sparky’s training methods.

Blackburn Rovers (2004-08)

Finishing 15th the season before under Graeme Souness, the ex-Liverpool player and manager left Blackburn in the relegation zone as he departed for Newcastle.

Mark Hughes stepped down as Wales boss to take charge at club level for the first time. After a slow start, Hughes guided Blackburn to safety (15th) and the semi finals of the FA Cup, losing to Arsenal. This would be the first of three successive semi-finals for Hughes who was unable to take them to the grand stage itself.

During three further seasons with Rovers, Hughes guided them to 6th, 10th and 7th place finishes before departing for Manchester City in the summer of 2008.

With a limited budget at Blackburn, Hughes managed to make a number of successful signings, including Chris Samba (£400,000), Roque Santa Cruz (£3.5 million), David Bentley (£500,000) and Stephen Warnock (£1.5 million).

Fulham (2010-11)

After 19 months in charge at Manchester City, Hughes was relieved of his duties in December 2009. At the end of that season, Hughes became Fulham’s manager following the departure of Roy Hodgson to Liverpool.

Matching Roy Hodgson’s success of taking Fulham to the Europa League final the previous season was never going to happen under Hughes (for one, they weren’t even in the competition the following season having finished 12th).

However, Hughes guided the Cottagers into 8th position in his only season. As he had done with Blackburn previously, Hughes made Fulham a difficult side to beat. A number of bore draws, yes.

Results included a 2-2 draw with Manchester United in his second game, during a 7-game unbeaten streak to start (albeit, just 1 win). Last season, Fulham also recorded a draw with Chelsea, at Manchester City and at home to Arsenal under Hughes. As well as four 3-0 victories.

Queens Park Rangers (2012-)

Mark Hughes will make his new side difficult to beat and with a few signings this month will be the start of a successful reign.

With 20 Premier League games played so far in the 2011/12 season, Chelsea sit in fourth position on 37 points; 11 behind leaders Manchester City.

In Andre Villas-Boas’ debut season in England, the 3 home defeats in 10 home games are of concern. Arsenal, Liverpool and most-recently, Aston Villa have all come away from the Bridge with maximum points. Wolves are the only side to have failed to score on their travels to Chelsea in the league this season.

It’s not all doom and gloom for the Blues however, with a number of bright sparks this season.

22-year old Daniel Sturridge leads the club goalscoring chart with 9 goals; scoring against goalkeepers including Tim Howard, Pepe Reina and Brad Friedel.

Here is how Sturridge compares to the experienced Didier Drogba and £50 million signing Fernando Torres:

Daniel Sturridge, who has started more games and played more minutes than both Drogba and Torres has matched this with a higher chance conversion (21%) and shooting accuracy (48%). Notably, Sturridge has shown improvement on his right foot in recent weeks; the foot he seemingly refused to use until 6 weeks ago.

Playing on the right wing, Sturridge, the 6’2” forward has been involved in a lack of aerial battles (3) this season, and won none of them. An improvement of his crossing accuracy (14%) is something Sturridge should look work on over the coming years if he is to continue playing out wide.

Ramires has continued off where he finished last season as one of the best players in the Chelsea midfield. The Brazilian adds energy to the Chelsea team, and has 4 goals to his name already.

Spanish summer signing Juan Mata has also netted 4 times in his first season at the club, and leads the team with 7 assists. The ex-Valencia midfielder has shown off his playmaking ability.

In his eleventh season with Chelsea, Frank Lampard has hit the net 8 times already this season and assisted another 4 despite spending time on the bench. Lampard played 90 minutes just once in the Blues’ final seven Premier League games of 2011, but his stats are still very impressive:

Frank Lampard has a better tackle success rate than he did last season in the centre of midfield, as well as a 5% pass completion improvement from open play. The England international has had fewer shots this season, but both his accuracy (65%) and chance conversion (35%) are significantly up from last year.

A hat trick versus Bolton in October may be the highlight of Frank Lampard’s season, but his other significant contributions this season include the winners at Blackburn, Manchester City and at Wolves earlier this month.

The Chelsea defence has certainly fallen apart from the days of Jose Mourinho. The Blues have kept just 4 clean sheets during the first 20 games of the season, conceding 25 in that time. 7 teams, including newly-promoted Swansea City, and Sunderland whom have used 2 goalkeepers whilst they wait for Craig Gordon to return.

Petr Cech kept 15 clean sheets last season. He needs 11 from Chelsea’s final 18 games this season to match that. His goals conceded per game average has shot up from 0.87 in 2010/11 to 1.28 since the arrival of Villas-Boas.

The Portuguese manager’s high defensive line has come under some scrutiny this season. As as David Luiz’s defensive ability in general. The ex-Benfica centre back has been limited to just 8 starts this season; through injury and selection.

John Terry too has come under the spotlight this season, but the England captain continues to stack up tackle-after-tackle and interception-after-interception game-after-game as ever. The Chelsea skipper has already notched up 4 league goals this season; as many as he scored in the Premier League-winning 2005/06 season and more than any other season in his career.

Chelsea are in talks with Gary Cahill over a potential January move for the Bolton captain. Whether the club see him as a long-term replacement for Terry or an immediate partner, I guess we’ll find out if the transfer goes through.

The Bolton centre back, noted for his poor marking in the penalty area ranks well statistically; making more interceptions (43) than John Terry himself to this point. Cahill has been involved in a significantly higher number of aerial duels than both Terry and Luiz combined this season, and the Trotters’ main defender has prevented less players from dribbling past him than the England captain in 2011/12.

Here’s how all three compare:

Data provided by Opta Sports.

Michael Vorm has kept the most clean sheets (9) so far.

Here are statistics for all 30 goalkeepers who have played in the Premier League through 20 games of the 2011/12 season:

The number of saves made by Wayne Hennessey (103) to-date stands out like a saw thumb (no pun intended) – the Wolves stopped has made 29 more saves than any other goalkeeper in the division!

Paul Robinson is the worst statistically in a couple of columns. His 12 goals conceded from outside the box this season is an alarming stat; only Wayne Hennessey has conceded more than half that many. Whilst Manchester United’s David de Gea who came under a lot of criticism earlier this season has only conceded 2 goals from 18+ yards.

In contention for the number 1 spot at Manchester United is Dane Anders Lindegaard. He currently leads the league in save percentage having saved over 84% of the shots he’s faced this season. He had kept 5 clean sheets in his first 5 Premier League starts until Newcastle put 3 past him at St James’ Par… I mean the Sports Direct Arena.

Norwich City’s John Ruddy has the unfortunate stat of playing the most minutes (1,700) without keeping a clean sheet. On the basis that Paul Robinson has played 170 minutes last than the Canary. Norwich are also the only team to officially not have a goalkeeper on the field for all 1,800 minutes this season. That 1 minute came during the sending off incident at Stamford Bridge earlier this season.

Wigan’s Ali Al-Habsi, although leading the league with 3 penalty saves so far this season, has conceded the most goals (41). The Oman goalkeeper will be hoping both Paul Robinson and Jussi Jääskeläinen can make their first team returns to catch him up.

Only 4 goalkeepers have yet to concede a goal from outside the penalty area. Whilst Adam Bogdan won’t want to be reminded of his most recent one, all four stoppers are second choice goalkeepers for the clubs. Brad Guzan has played the most minutes without conceding a goal from 18+ yards. Will Alex McLeish take this into account when Shay Given is fit to play?

Data provided by Opta Stats

Gary Cahill is one of the most sort-after centre backs in the Premier League right now. Since the opening of the January transfer window, the Bolton Wanderers captain has been in talks regarding a move to Chelsea.

Chelsea, under Andre Villas-Boas this season have had defensive problems amongst their issues in their opening 20 Premier League games. The four-time champions of England have conceded 25 goals already this season; having conceded just 33 throughout the whole of last season, and 32 in their title-winning season the year before.

Petr Cech remains the goalkeeper. Albeit not the reassuring man he was under Jose Mourinho.

David Luiz was brought in 12 months ago at a fee of £21 million from then-reigning Portuguese champions, Benfica. Although a popular choice amongst the fans when he first started, they ignored the mistakes he was making. One of his first notable mistakes was conceding a stoppage time penalty at Fulham on Valentine’s Day last season.

The Brazilian defender has little positional sense and isn’t the greatest in the air for a centre back.

Branislav Ivanovic has had his fair share of games at centre back this season, but the Serbian too is a liability in that position, and a natural right back. Even if he too isn’t the best of defenders in the Premier League, to put it politely.

Alex is expected to leave this month having previously handed in and having his transfer request accepted. This has left the ex-Porto title-winning manager to go in search for a replacement centre back.

Despite playing amongst one of the poorest defences in the Premier League (no team has conceded more goals to date), Gary Cahill has been tipped to play for top 6 side’s for a while. Previously linked to Arsenal, Liverpool and even Manchester United, a move to a big club seems imminent for the former Aston Villa centre back.

Here’s how he compares to Chelsea’s current centre back partnership:

Gary Cahill has made a surprisingly low number of tackles (14) in his first 19 games of the season, compared to the 40 John Terry has made. His large number of interceptions (43) and limited number of yellow cards (2) can only read as positives to Chelsea fans.

Despite Opta Sports claiming Gary Cahill has made 0 defensive errors this season, he does let his man get free in the penalty box. His poor marking would be brought to the media’s attention should he move to Chelsea and make similar errors.

Following the festive fixtures in the Premier League, between Tuesday 20 December and Wednesday 4 January, Sunderland have come out on top with 10 points from their 4 fixtures.

Sunderland started with a 3-2 victory at Queens Park Rangers on Wednesday 21 following Wes Brown’s late winner after QPR had originally erased a 0-2 deficit on home soil.

On Boxing day, Sunderland were held 1-1 at home to Everton in a game they arguably deserved to win. Everton’s equaliser came through Leighton Baine’s controversially converted penalty after Leon Osman tripped himself in the box.

On New Year’s Day, Sunderland pulled off one of the surprises of the season when Ji Dong-Won scored a dramatic stoppage time winner against Manchester City. The Black Cats had limited time of possession throughout the game but defended outstandingly, aided with some fortune before stealing a winner in the dying seconds on the counter attack.

And last night Sunderland pulled off a convincing 4-1 victory at Wigan just 48 hours after their previous game.

Sunderland have had 8 different goalscorers during this time, with Stephane Sessegnon the only player to score twice.

Sunderland travel to Peterborough for their FA Cup 3rd round tie on Sunday before their next Premier League game at Chelsea on January 14.