Strength in depth

I have looked at the last three Premier League winning squads (assuming nothing catastrophic occurs in the remainder of this season at United) and then looked at their "second eleven", that is what I deem the best eleven should they be without every single player they would start with.

 I believe the Chelsea second eleven of 09/10 to be the weakest of the three looked at. Hilario is of questionable quality, and made only 2 Premier League starts in the title winning season.Whilst Alex (shown on the image as Costa) is a quality centre back and Bosingwa and Ferreira are solid full backs, Bruma is a weak link and only included due to lack of other options. It is also worth noting that Ferreira is out of position, favouring a role at right back. Mikel is an able enough understudy to Essien, Belletti is played out of position (once again due to lack of other serious options) and Deco provided real quality, albeit on ageing legs. Joe Cole and Zhirkov are a definite class below Anelka and Malouda. Finally Kalou does little to inspire confidence should Drogba be missing a game, but beyond Anelka and Drogba Chelsea lacked any true strikers of real class.

 The Manchester City team contains undoubted quality speckled with players less gifted. Pantmillion still only stands out to me due to his lanky frame and Pokemon-esque name, he has yet to prove anything to me as a goalkeeper. Richards is a quality right back and Toure also a valuable centre back to have. Kolarov is as good a player as you can hope to have in the absence of a starting eleven player. De Jong is also a crucial player, definitely better than Javi Martinez, and only misses out on the starting eleven due to the quality of Yaya Toure and alienating loyalty to Barry. Pizarro was an odd player to bring in on loan and made just one Premier League start. Balotelli is, whilst controversial and prone to self destruction, also a highly talented footballer. Milner is a workmanlike player who is versatile and a valuable player due to this. Adam Johnson, limited to only ten starts, has since gone elsewhere to try and find first team football, indicative of his contribution at City. Dzeko is, in my opinion, a vastly underrated player. Scoring 14 goals in 16 starts and 15 sub appearances is good by anyone's standards.

The Manchester United team is one which possesses few stars, but also very few weak links. Lindegaard is probably the best of the three goal keepers. Jones as good at right back as anyone mentioned (especially when consistency is taken into account), Evans is hugely improved and has played exceptionally this season, Smalling also a player who is steadily proving himself to be a capable centre back, finally Buttner is unlikely to add vastly to his current 2 Premier League starts but has shown himself to be exciting going forward. Anderson, whilst sketchy of late, is without doubt a better centre midfield option than Belletti or Pizarro and Scholes is a player capable of controlling and changing big games. The 3 playing behind Hernandez could give most defences a run for their money, once again without a blatant weak link. Kagawa has had a bright first season, Welbeck proven himself to be exciting and hardworking, whilst Nani has a few seasons of good Premier League form to back him up. Hernandez, similarly to Dzeko, scores goals. With 8 goals from 6 starts and 15 substitute appearances, he can be expected to reach double figures comfortably by the end of the season.

If I had to make an XI from all 3 teams?
Lindegaard. Jones, Alex, Evans, Kolarov. Scholes, De Jong. Welbeck, Balotelli, Nani. Dzeko.

That makes 6 Manchester United players, 4 Manchester City and just the 1 Chelsea player. Does this show that depth is becoming a greater factor in winning the title?

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The squads were chosen and displayed on the new and fantastic @EPLindex tactics app
Appearances and goals scored found on the ever reliable Wikipedia

Burak Yilmaz: more goals than Messi

Burak Yilmaz is not a household name. At all. But in this season’s Champions League, the Turkish striker is on fire. He has more Champions League goals to his name than Lionel Messi (7) and the same amount as Cristiano Ronaldo (8). His goals are below:

Incredibly, Yilmaz joined Galatasaray in the summer for just over £4.25 million from Trabzonspor. According to transfermarkt.co.uk, Messi and Ronaldo have market values of £105 million and £88 million respectively. That makes Messi worth almost 25 times the value of Yilmaz.

With players such as Didier Drogba, Wesley Sneijder and Emmanuel Eboue, Yilmaz has been the unlikely stand-out performer for Galatasaray. He has 16 goals in 19 starts in the Turkish Super Lig this season and he also scored 33 goals in 34 games last year for Trabzonspor. Critics may argue that the Turkish Super Lig is a weak league; UEFA only consider it the 12^th best league in Europe.

But, if he keeps his very impressive scoring rate up, Galatasaray will find it tough to prise Europe’s elite away from their striker. Galatasaray face Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-finals in April, giving Yilmaz a perfect platform to increase his rapidly growing reputation.

By Kelvin Jones

Follow us on Twitter! @ChapsTalkFball

Sources:

whoscored.com

uefa.com

Crunch time

It is approaching the most exciting time of the season, crunch time, the final straight, squeaky bum time, call it what you like it is certain to throw up surprise after surprise and no doubt controversy after controversy. With Manchester United already clearing space in their trophy cabinet for the Premier League trophy what's left to play for elsewhere in the table?

There is obviously the fight for Champions League football, with nine points separating Tottenham in third and Everton in sixth it seems only realistic that either of them two teams, or Chelsea and Arsenal between them, could start next season in the Champions League proper or in the qualifying stages.

Next there is the sister competition of the Champions League, the "it's not serious until you're into the final stages" Europa League. In 2010 Fulham committed heavily to the competition and it took a dramatic Diego Forlan goal four minutes before the end of the second half of extra time to defeat them. Those with a shot of a taste of Europe include those who I mentioned in the previous paragraph, however as they are currently fourth and fifth Spurs and Chelsea would be disappointed to miss out on the Champions League. Lying below those aiming for the Champions League are WBA just two points off of Everton (having played a game more than those around them), Liverpool, a point worse off than the Baggies and Swansea, already a successful season after a triumph in the League Cup against overachievers Bradford, two points behind Liverpool (also having played an extra game).

The third talking point is the one that always delivers, relegation. Ten points is all that is between Fulham in tenth and QPR at the foot of the table. Despite this it is unlikely that Fulham, Stoke, West Ham or Norwich being dragged into a position where there appears to be any chance of relegation. QPR have a run of fixtures that will give any hoops fan a hope and a squad that, in a parallel universe I could be mentioning them in the above paragraph as Europa League contenders and praising Mark Hughes. However it is "Harry Houdini" who has been called upon to try and save their squad of superstars. Reading, Wigan, Villa and Southampton are all at real threat of starting next season with fixtures against the likes of Huddersfield, Millwall or maybe even the glamorous (and currently League One) sides Doncaster, Swindon or Yeovil.

It is always a risky business making predictions, and as my gambling record shows, I am not especially good at it. But I will hazard a guess at who will come out well and who won't from the positions which I have previously spoken about.

Champions league: No change in the league table here, Tottenham and Chelsea will be third and fourth. Neither team have an easy run in with Chelsea facing up to Spurs, Liverpool, United and Everton and Spurs having to play Everton, Chelsea and City. Sky will love the fixture between Chelsea and Spurs on the 14th of April, but it may well be the game that decides who's third and who has to qualify for the group stages.

Europa league: Arsenal will finish fifth. Everton have matches against City, Spurs, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea. The other team I can see making a charge for sixth spot is Liverpool, having had a surge of form and having an easier fixture run in (Chelsea and Liverpool on the 4th of May being their decisive games) they stand a real chance of overtaking Everton, and I think they'll do it.

Relegation: I'm going to say it now, I think QPR will stay up. Who will go down? Reading look like they are going down, since a really good January they have failed to make a push up the table. Wigan have a run of fixtures that can help them get points of the board, when their history is taken into account they appear to have enough to remain a Premier League team. The other two team who are most likely to go down are Southampton and Aston Villa. Two recently promoted teams going down wouldn't have surprised anyone at the start of the season, but with a squad full of quality and a brand new manager it seemed inconceivable that they would go down, but now it looks like there will be one fewer ever present Premier League team come the start of next season.

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whoscored.com was used to view the league table and remaining fixtures

Tottenham Hotspur vs. Arsenal: Preview

The North London derby is always a must watch game. Tomorrow’s game is no exception, as the race for the Champions League places is tight.

Pos	Team	Played	Wins	Draws	Losses	GD	Points
3rd	Chelsea	28	15	7	6	+26	52
4th	Tottenham	27	15	6	6	+15	51
5th	Arsenal	27	13	8	6	+22	47
6th	Everton	28	11	12	5	+9	45

Arsenal cannot afford to lose tomorrow. A defeat will leave them seven points behind Tottenham and five points behind Chelsea. With ten games remaining, it would be a considerable lead.

The North London derby is the highest scoring fixture in Premier League history; 121 goals have been scored. The table below shows the results since 2008.

North London derbies since 2008

2012/2013	Arsenal	5	2	Tottenham
2011/2012	Arsenal	5	2	Tottenham
2011/2012	Tottenham	2	1	Arsenal
2010/2011	Tottenham	3	3	Arsenal
2010/2011	Arsenal	2	3	Tottenham
2009/2010	Tottenham	2	1	Arsenal
2009/2010	Arsenal	3	0	Tottenham
2008/2009	Tottenham	0	0	Arsenal
2008/2009	Arsenal	4	4	Tottenham

Goals per game since 2008	4.67
Arsenal goals per game since 2008	2.67
Tottenham goals per game since 2008	2.00

Gareth Bale has recently been compared to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in the media, but I believe that to be a massive exaggeration. While nine goals in seven games is impressive, Messi and Ronaldo are able to reproduce this form consistently. Arsene Wenger believes that Bale would find it “very, very difficult” to continue the form he is currently in.

Having said that, if the in-form Bale turns up tomorrow, Arsenal will be in for a tough afternoon. Bacary Sagna has been ruled out with a knee injury, leaving Carl Jenkinson to deputise. Despite being much less experienced than the Frenchman, Jenkinson is a good player and he is capable of nullifying the threat posed by Bale.

Personally, I think the game will end up as a 2-2 draw. Both teams are very evenly matched. The form table can barely separate them, with Arsenal ranked second and Tottenham ranked third.

By Kelvin Jones

Follow us on Twitter! @ChapsTalkFBall

Sources:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20278355

http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/matchday/form-guide.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/competitions/premier-league/9903706/Tottenham-v-Arsenal-Gareth-Bale-will-inevitably-suffer-dip-in-form-warns-Arsene-Wenger-ahead-of-derby.html