Barrie's View

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.

For all of their dominance at the start of the 2011/12 season, Manchester City will start the new year in second position before they kick off their game with Sunderland on New Year’s Day.

Having spent most of last season playing negative and defensive tactics, Roberto Mancini’s side began this campaign with an attacking impetus; something they have continued with throughout.

Manchester City have amassed 53 goals in their opening 18 Premier League games this season and on course to break the Chelsea’s record for the most goals in a single Premier League season (103) set two season’s ago.

Sergio Aguero, Edin Dzeko and Mario Balotelli are all amongst the league’s top 9 goalscorers this season, and Manchester City-owned Emmanuel Adebayor also makes the chart whilst playing out on loan at Tottenham Hotspur.

Manchester City versus the Premier League

Here is how Manchester City are doing in comparison to the rest of the Premier League in terms of creating chances:

Tottenham Hotspur, with the likes of Gareth Bale, Luka Modric, Rafael van der Vaart and Adebayor are second on the list, behind the Citizens.

The following graph shows the percentage of opportunities turned into goals:

It is noticeable that Liverpool were towards the top of the chances created, yet are now in the bottom 3 for converting their chances.

With Manchester City leading both the chances created and with the best players in front of goal, it comes as no surprised to see the league leaders after 18 games have scored the most goals in the Premier League this season:

The next graph shows that Manchester City have created the majority of their chances from Open Play:

It’s no surprise to see that Stoke City have created the majority of chances from set pieces this season, but the above graph shows us Manchester City’s ability to create chances from open play. The likes of David Silva, Samir Nasri, Sergio Aguero and Yaya Toure have been the players responsible for a high percentage of these.

Manchester City Player Comparison

The following table shows the creativity of selected players in the Manchester City side:

David Silva, a strong candidate for Premier League player of the season leads this chart for creating chances and providing the highest number of assists in a Manchester City shirt this season. Samir Nasri, who started the season very well before a slight dip in form has provided the most crosses for the team, whilst Sergio Aguero’s playmaking ability it also highlighted.

With all those chances created, here is a list of how selected Manchester City players do in front of goal:

Sergio Aguero is both a creator and scorer of goals; trailing only Robin van Persie and Demba Ba heading into the new year. Averaging nearly 1 goal every 90 minutes, only Edin Dzeko and Mario Balotelli can outdo him in that category, with the Bosnian and Italian having played less in the league so far this season. Yaya Toure’s low accuracy and conversion rate in comparison to his team mates only highlights of lust for long range and ambitious shots.

Data provided by Opta.

Liverpool’s failure to convert a higher percentage of chances in front of goal this season has seen them throw away a number of points this season.

The most recent disappointment for fans came in Boxing day’s 1-1 draw at home to bottom of the league Blackburn Rovers, which saw Luis Suarez fire all 6 of his attempts off target, and Andy Carroll force only 2 saves from Mark Bunn from his 5 attempts.

The game prior to Boxing day was a goalless draw at Wigan Athletic. Liverpool head into their final game of 2011 3 points behind fourth place Chelsea and a massive 14 points behind the league’s joint-leaders.

The following table breaks down Liverpool’s goal attempts per player through the opening 18 games of the 2011/12 Premier League season:

*Aaron Ramsey, Roger Johnson and Joleon Lescott have all scored own goals for Liverpool this season.

With Luis Suarez set to face a 9-match ban for improper conduct (1 game) and racial abuse (8 games), Liverpool will line up against Newcastle on Friday night with no player in their starting eleven having scored more than 2 goals this season.

Kenny Dalglish said after the draw with Blackburn that his side were creating good attempts on target and that they keep facing an “inspired goalkeeper”. Arguably, both Michel Vorm, Mark Schwarzer and Ali Al-Habsi all pulled off a string of saves in previous meetings earlier this season, but Mark Bunn was only forced into one top-drawer save on Monday, albeit at the very end.

With Suarez’s upcoming suspensions Andy Carroll will be looking for another long run in the team; something he hasn’t had since September. The £35 million striker has yet to impress, and statistics don’t make it look any better for the half-a-season Newcastle hit man.

Carroll has had just 14 attempts on target during his 835 minutes on the pitch; equating to less than 4 attempts a game (of which less than 50% are on target). The 6’3” striker has had more headed attempts off target (13) than any other player in the Premier League so far this season, and won 59% of his aerial duels this season, although having watched him on a number of occasions already in a Liverpool shirt, few of these are leading to goalscoring opportunities. His short range passing has lead something to be desired at times this season.

The transfer window is only a few days away and with the £57+ million spent last winter, I wonder if the owners will be tempted to open their cheque book and bring in another striker to help with Liverpool’s current goalscoring problems.

Following a 2-1 home defeat at the hands of Bolton Wanderers this evening, Steve Kean’s side have fallen to the bottom of the Premier League and are now 4 points from safety.

It’s three straight defeats for Blackburn Rovers, after losing 2-1 to Sunderland in stoppage time, 2-1 at home to West Brom in the final minute, and this evening’s 2-1 defeat.

Steve Kean continues to put on a brave face in front of the camera and his substitute striker Jason Roberts continually insists on BBC Five Live’s 606 radio show that the inexperienced manager is positive away from the camera too. He must be the only one in the club.

The fans, equipped with banners and boos want Steve Kean out. The fans should also want the owners, Venkys to leave the club also.

The Indian owners, who have been in charge for over a year now are responsible for the sacking of Sam Allardyce, an experienced manager who had taken them from relegation to midtable. Replaced him with Steve Kean, an inexperienced manager who has taken them from where Allardyce left them to the foot of the Premier League. And they also sold a number of their prized assets; Phil Jones and Nikola Kalinic for a combined substantial fee.

Whilst Yakubu has done wonders so far, it’s a wonder how much longer he can keep his goalscoring up at Blackburn, and he was certainly considered a desperate, last minute buy on transfer deadline day.

David Goodwillie is yet to score, whilst Radosav Petrovic has had limited time.

Simon Vukcevic has had some good moments in midfield, whilst their biggest signing Scott Dann is part of a defence that has yet to keep a clean sheet this season.

Steve Kean was so negative with his tactics against Sunderland just over a week ago that lead his side to defeat. Then they were beaten at home to out-of-form West Brom before this evening’s first half performance ultimately cost them what was dubbed a “must-win” game for Steve Kean.

Next up for Blackburn Rovers are trips to Liverpool and Manchester United on Boxing day and New Year’s Eve respectively. Anything more than 0 points will be both unexpected and a bonus. They certainly won’t get enough to move them off the bottom of the league heading into new year, I assure you.

If Venkys want to win over the fans, or at least show they have any idea about football, then relieving Steve Kean of his duties in the coming days would be a step in the right direction.

While they may struggle to bring in a top replacement, Mark Hughes, Alan Curbishley and Dave Jones are all currently out of work.

To end on a happy note, here is that Venkys advert:

I had the privilege of going to yesterday’s game between Tottenham Hotspur and Sunderland at White Hart Lane.

Sitting in the West Upper stand, I occasionally caught site of Martin O’Neill pointing and shouting out instructions from the sideline below us. One thing you’d associate with Martin.

His side did their best to make for a dull affair by closing down the opposition as best they could. At 0-0, neither Rafael van der Vaart or Luka Modric could get too much influence on the game. The latter however may have set up his team mates or more than one occasion but for over hit passes. The former narrowly deflected a Benoit Assou-Ekotto drive narrowly wide from in front of goal.

A delightful pass from the Dutchman did setup the winning goal on the hour for substitute Roman Pavlyuchenko who’s pinpoint accuracy from 18 yards gave Keiren Westwood no chance in the Sunderland goal.  Prior to that, Tottenham’s chances had been limited and very few clear cut.  Against a side who had scored 30 goals in 14 league games prior to this, Sunderland’s defence stood firm.

Yes, Luka Modric should have doubled the lead later. Fortunately for the Croatian, his contender for miss of the season didn’t cost Spurs three points. This result increases Spurs’ winning streak to six in a row at White Hart Lane in the Premier League, keeping clean sheets in four of them.

As for Sunderland, their lack of firepower up front was emphasised by Steve Bruce earlier in the season. Their 18 goals in 16 games isn’t the worst in the league but O’Neill needs to find a goalscoring striker as Nicklas Bendtner currently leads the front line with 2.

Steve Bruce’s side had been plummeting since the sale of Darren Bent in January and narrowly avoided relegation at the end of last season.  The former Manchester United captain had not left Sunderland in the best of positions, but the club in my opinion made the right choice to relieve him of his duties with the former Aston Villa, Leicester City and Celtic manager lined up as his replacement.

Stephane Sessegnon, who plays just behind Connor Wickham/Bendtner also has 2 goals to his name. Set piece taker Sebastian Larsson who plays on the right wing leads the team with 5 goals. The January transfer is approaching for Martin O’Neill to work his magic… or bring in Emile Heskey.

Larsson had a free kick saved by Brad Friedel in the first half, whilst it was his cross that could have set up Kieran Richardson with the opening goal of the game as he burst into an unguarded six yard box only for the Swede’s pass to be behind the former Manchester United player.

It’s 3 points from 2 games under Martin O’Neill’s side now. And although they sit just 1 point above relegation I do not see the Black Cats being involved in a relegation scrap at the end of the season. Top half is more likely in my opinion.

Before the new year, Sunderland travel to Queens Park Rangers and then host Everton on Boxing Day. There’s no reason why these can’t be two wins for O’Neill’s side, and I can certainly see them taking 2 or 4 points from these fixtures combined. Before they face Manchester City on New Year’s Day.

Chelsea came from behind to beat 10-man Manchester City 2-1 this evening with a late Frank Lampard penalty, handing Roberto Mancini’s side their first defeat of the season in the process.

The visitors, who entered this game having dropped just 2 points from their opening 14 Premier League games this season were in front in less than 2 minutes. A nice turn away from would-be tacklers and a through ball from Sergio Aguero was latched onto by Mario Balotelli whom avoided Branislav Ivanovic before taking it past Petr Cech and rolling the ball into the empty net before giving is trademark celebration in front of some Chelsea supporters.

Manchester City were dominant for the opening 25 minutes but will be mift as to how they didn’t capitolise on their possession and convert it into a second goal. First, Sergio Aguero cut inside the penalty area but fired wide from 10 yards.

David Silva, who was largely anonymous throughout this match before he was substituted in the 75th minute, was tripped inside the penalty area by Jose Bosingwa but any penalty claims were waived away by referee Mark Clattenburg.

Chelsea were chasing shadows for the opening 30 minutes. Then in the 34th minute, Daniel Sturridge brought down a long ball out on the right wing, dribbled around Gael Clichy before delivering a right-footed cross for which Raul Meireles volleyed home from close range. 1-1.

Andre Villas-Boas’ side then finished the first half on top and started the second brightly. The first half equaliser had seemingly stunned the visitors. And within 13 minutes of the second half, Gael Clichy received two yellow cards as Manchester City played just over half an hour with a man less. The former Arsenal left back tripped Sturridge for his first and Ramires before receiving his marching orders.

Roberto Mancini then reverted back to the tactical approach his side were very experienced in from last season… defensive. And who could blame him. First, Kolo Toure came on for Sergio Aguero. And then, when still tied at 1-1 with quarter of an hour remaining, Nigel de Jong was introduced for David Silva.

For all of Chelsea’s possession and there man advantage they did not test Joe Hart at all in the second half. Not until Daniel Sturridge’s effort struck the hands of Joleon Lescott inside the box and Chelsea were awarded an 83rd minute penalty. Frank Lampard who had only been introduced 10 minutes earlier as a replacement for Meireles stepped up and smashed it home. And finally there was some noise around Stamford Bridge.

Roberto Mancini did not blame Clichy or the referee’s decision to send him off, but referred back to the first half at 1-0 when Manchester City were denied a penalty. And the opportunity for a 2-0 lead from the penalty spot at that stage would have all but kept City’s unbeaten start to the season in tact.

This defeat leaves Manchester City 2 points atop of their local rivals United ahead of their home game with Arsenal next Sunday. Manchester United can go back on top of the Premier League next Sunday when they kick off at lunchtime at Loftus Road by beating Queens Park Rangers. Manchester City kick off at 4.10.

This evening’s result leaves Chelsea 7 points behind Manchester City.

Manchester City remain odds-on favourites to win the Premier League this season, but their odds have risen to 5/6 after their Monday night defeat. Manchester United’s odds have dropped to 2/1 whilst Chelsea are now 8/1.

Martin O’Neill made a dramatic winning start to his Sunderland career as Sebastian Larsson curled home a 92nd minute free kick to add further pressure on Steve Kean.

Only days into O’Neill’s appointment and Sunderland have picked up their first Premier League win in six attempts at the expense of Blackburn Rovers.

The visitors were keen to show up the former-Aston Villa manager on his debut when they broke the deadlock inside 20 minutes. Chris Samba was able to pick up a uncontested long ball on the edge of the Sunderland penalty area before his fiercely struck effort was palmed onto the head of Simon Vukcevic by goalkeeper Kieren Westwood.

Blackburn appeared to have doubled their lead in the first half when Scott Dann headed home from close range, only for referee Peter Walton to disallow his effort, claiming Chris Samba had fouled the goalkeeper in the build up. TV replays could not support his case.

Rovers lost both Gael Givet midway through the first half, Martin Olsson at half time, Michel Salgado just after half time and then Jason Lowe in stoppage time, all through injuries to add to Steve Kean’s list of problems.

However, it was the Glasgow-born manager who allowed Martin O’Neill’s side to come back into the game at half time. After starting the game positively, his second half tactics were to sit on the 1-0 lead they had. Yakubu seemed to be the only player in the Sunderland half in the second half, and he was not the player to chase down long balls or put the opposition under pressure inside their own half.

Sunderland kept trying and trying before a wonder strike from David Vaughan 6 minutes from time looked to earn the home side a point.

With the crowd behind them and Blackburn on the back foot, Sunderland pressed for a late winner and got it two minutes into stoppage time when Sebastian Larsson perfectly executed his free kick from the left hands side of the penalty area, into the bottom corner.

It’s a dramatic start for Martin O’Neill, but there are going to be tougher days ahead than playing the side 19th in the table.

Sunderland go to Tottenham next, then to Queens Park Rangers before hosting Everton on Boxing day.

Since Thomas Vermaelen returned to the Arsenal defence to start against West Brom in a 3-0 victory on November 5, Arsenal’s goals against average has been on the way down.

The Belgian defender has seen his goalkeeper beaten just twice in the five Premier League starts he has made since picking up an injury in Arsenal’s Champions League victory over Udinese in Italy on August 24.

Arsenal’s defence became notably porous the first time Vermaelen missed a game this season, when they went down 8-2 at Old Trafford. They also conceded 4 goals at Blackburn, 3 at Chelsea and 2 at Tottenham without their defensive talisman.

Since the former-Ajax’s defenders return last month, Arsenal have defeated West Brom 3-0, Wigan 4-0 and Everton 1-0. Albeit the latter two are amongst the weakest-attacking sides in the league.

The two goals Arsenal have conceded during this timespan came against Norwich City and Fulham. The first solely down to a defensive howler from partner Per Mertesacker. And the goal Fulham scored was actually a howler of an own goal from the Belgian centre back himself. Otherwise, Arsenal have been pretty solid at the back.

Next Sunday, Thomas Vermaelen faces his toughest test of the season so far… a trip to free-scoring Manchester City. Afterwards, the possibility of three clean sheets to end the year is a realistic one as they go to Aston Villa, host Wolves on Boxing Day and then host Queens Park Rangers on New Year’s Eve.

Now only Manchester United and Swansea City have more clean sheets than Arsenal in the Premier League after 15 games this season.

Chelsea have moved up to 3rd place in the Premier League ahead of today’s 3pm kickoffs following their 2-0 victory at Newcastle in the lunchtime kickoff.

The most controversial decision of the game came inside 4 minutes when David Luiz brought down Demba Ba as the last man. Referee Mike Down only brandished the Brazilian defender a yellow card when the laws of the game state a red would been the correct decision.

Luiz looked shaky early on but Newcastle failed to capitalise on this. At one point the defender got under a cross for which Demba Ba met with a header onto the post. Ba, Newcastle’s top scorer this season had earlier seen an effort well tipped over by Petr Cech.

Chelsea’s first opportunity of the match came in the 14th minute when Yohan Cabaye tripped Daniel Sturridge inside the penalty area. Frank Lampard’s effort from the spot was pushed onto the post by Tim Krul, who had stepped off his line before the kick was taken.

The Chelsea defence put in a solid performance in this game to record their first back-to-back clean sheets of the season. John Terry cleared an effort off the line from Sammy Ameobi at 1-0.

The visitors sealed the victory late on. First, after Fernando Torres had squandered a one-on-one opportunity with some poor dribbling, the £50 million Spaniard poked the ball to substitute Salomon Kalou who smashed home from inside the area.

Then in stoppage time, Daniel Sturridge smashed home an effort to make the scoreline appear emphatic for the Blues. Newcastle, obviously with few players back defending as they went all out in attack in the final few minutes in search of a goal themselves.

Sturridge had several opportunities throughout the game, most of them in the first half. But the young Englishman playing on the right wing and being given endless space by Ryan Taylor was both wasteful and denied on several occasions by Tim Krul. The Newcastle goalkeeper put in a man of the match-like performance.

Back-to-back 3-0 victories in the league will ease pressure on Andre Villas-Boas. This result moves Chelsea up to 3rd place, 7 points behind leaders Manchester City who also have a game in hand.

Chelsea’s odds with Betfair are as follows:

Top 4 finish: 1.47
Top 3 finish: 1.95
Top 2 finish: 4.7