By Jamie
Redknapp
Getting the job done: Sturridge has impressed for
Chelsea this campaign
Gael Clichy is a very good
full back, but he would have woken on Tuesday morning with scorch
marks down the side of his face after being tormented by Daniel
Sturridge.
Sturridge reminds me of Arjen
Robben in Jose Mourinho's conquering Chelsea team. He can go
outside or inside, will charge at pace, panic defenders and, as we
saw against Manchester City, he can change a game.
Losing 1-0 and heading
nowhere, Chelsea needed a special player to drag them back into the
match. You talk about moments in games - Sturridge created those
moments. He set up the first and won the penalty for the
second.
As Fernando Torres looks on
from the bench, Sturridge has become an accomplished Chelsea
forward - an attacking wide forward, playing with confidence and
influencing big matches.
Head boy: The young striker is keeping £50m Torres out
of the team
Warming the bench: Torres has fallen behind Sturridge
in the pecking order
He looked like a player who
thought he could; a swaggering belief in his own quality, although
the word was that he would leave his best form on the training
ground.
He needed the breakthrough on
loan at Bolton (how they could do with him now) but has carried on
that form into this season. And now into the big games after
influencing results in the last nine days: Chelsea wins against
Newcastle, Valencia and Manchester City.
If the old outside-right
position is where he will stay then he's in direct competition with
Theo Walcott for England. I'm a Theo fan and he has been involved
in a lot of Robin van Persie's goals this season, but Sturridge
creates heightened competition.
Of these wide attackers, there
are Sturridge, Walcott, Scott Sinclair and Welbeck, who can also
play through the middle, as well as conventional wingers such as
Ashley Young and Stewart Downing. Sturridge is the emerging
player.
Exciting, dynamic, direct and
a real threat. How will he react now to teams setting traps for him
and preparing ways to stop him, such as doubling up? That's his
next challenge, but he's passing each test so far.