Newcastle United, Manchester United, Swansea City and Arsenal players feature in our list.
Hatem Ben Arfa
Frenchman Hatem Ben Arfa compared himself recently to Eric Cantona, so we don’t know how he will take to his ‘New Peter Beardsley’ tag, but so long as he keeps putting in performances like he has done of late supporters won’t care. He has been coming into form ever since the turn of the year, scoring a superb solo goal in the FA Cup against Blackburn and netting a brace away to Fulham. It is really lately though that he has turned it up a notch. He scored away at West Brom, delivering two assists and also twice turned provider for Newcastle against Liverpool at the weekend. Added to his goal scored away to Arsenal earlier in the month, sustaining his form will be crucial if Newcastle are to claim an unlikely Champions League place.
Papiss Cisse
The man Newcastle will be hoping will score the goals and continue to be on the receiving end of Ben Arfa’s assists is Papiss Cisse. The Senegal international has scored seven in seven for the club, including four in his last two. If Newcastle are to get any sort of result away to Swansea tomorrow, Cisse will be an integral performer. The £8 million January signing from Freiburg has been an instant hit, and has even drawn comparisons with Alan Shearer. Expect to see him lining up on the Match of the Day sofa in the not too distant future.
Jonny Evans
Jonny Evans was barracked, criticised and written off last season, and that was just by his own fans. He has revigorated his career at Old Trafford by winning the contest to partner Rio Ferdinand in central defence, and he is full of confidence. He has helped the club keep four successive clean sheets, and is proving a goal threat at the opposite end of the pitch, scoring one and setting up another. The Northern Irishman deserves credit and if United go onto win the title, he will feel as though he really earned his league medal, as opposed to last year when he spent most of the latter part of the season on the fringes.
Gylfi Sigurdsson
Sigurdsson was a low-key loan signing for Swansea from German club Hoffenheim in January, now all the big clubs will be well aware of him and may even put in a bid for him this summer. For further evidence of Sigurdsson’s form, he was the recipient of the Premier League’s Player of the Month Award, well deserved. He has scored six goals since his arrival, including three in his last three. His strike away at Tottenham was one of the best of the bunch, while his match-winning brace away at Fulham helped the Swans do the double over the Cottagers. All of his strikes have come away from home so he will want to rectify that.
Theo Walcott
The fact he was the brunt of so much criticism before his turnaround in form makes Theo Walcott’s recent run all the more sweeter. Since February and the Premier League winning streak which helped re-ignite Arsenal’s season begun, he has been on a much-improved run. He has two goals in his last two games, and also set up Robin van Persie against Newcastle, and provided three assists in the 7-1 demolition of Blackburn, and the two goals against Tottenham will live long in the memory. Whether he was burned by the harsh words aimed towards him after the Milan game, or inspired by competition from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, it will matter little to fans who just want to see him continue like this until the end of the season and help the club finish third.
Who should also be on this list and should any of these players not be here?
image: © mikebrown59
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