The Benchmark

Carlos Tevez and Frank Lampard. Between them 650 Premier League appearances and 209 goals, 5 league winners medals, 4 FA Cups, numerous awards and countless accolades. And zero minutes played over the weekend. Interesting, to say the least, how two players who have, even as recently as six months ago, been the central to the success of their own clubs.

They were joined on the sidelines - at least for a time - by Mario Balotelli, James Milner, Didier Drogba, and Florent Malouda respectively, while the likes of Ryan Giggs, Steven Gerrard, Andrei Arshavin, and Marouane Chamakh sat our varying periods of Manchester United's, Liverpool's and Arsenal's own Premier League commitments. Stellar, and in some cases legendary, names. But then some of those, established as they may be, were returning from injury, or have already been consigned (resigned?) to the part of a squad player for months or even years.

There are very few players who can and who have single-handedly galvanised a team or won a game. Roy Keane and Steven Gerrard famously did it for Manchester United and Liverpool on many occasions, most notably perhaps against Juventus and AC Milan in the Champions League. It is no stretch, perhaps, to say that without Carlos Tevez, Manchester City would not have enjoyed all the success they have in the past few years. His arrival and presence at Eastlands/the Etihad was a welcome, necessary and and for most of his stay he seemed altogether indispensable. But then he completed his traditional two-year stint at a club (the longest he has stayed at any one side since originally leaving Boca Juniors) and wanted out. Crisis, headlines, spanner.

I have previously written about Chelsea, and when I saw the team sheets for their match against Swansea, I was actually excited. No Lampard? Again? AVB stamping his authority on a Chelsea side and dressing room that has for so long appear to have dictated the squad selections of Avram Grant, Luiz Felipe Scolari, Guus Hiddink, and Carlo Ancelotti? Potentially huge news, the exclusion of the midfielder with the most goals in Premier League history. While it was evident that Lampard fit poorly into AVB's preferred 4-3-3 formation (which differs from Mourinho's in many aspects), many curious minds wondered if the young manager would yield to perceived player and perhaps supporter pressure to select the England man. But even Capello has started to lose faith in the former Swansea player who once made over 150 consecutive league appearances for the Blues.

And yet, even with a skipper that wants to leave and a key midfielder performing markedly below his previous standards, Manchester City and Chelsea continue to perform excellently. Second and third in the league, only because of the brilliance of Manchester United (and possibly the inconsistency of Arsenal and Liverpool), the futures for blue sides of Manchester and London seem bright.