The Dependables

The Premier League is one which rewards strong sides. Sides which contain the fewest weak links within their starting XI. One player does not make a team, and reliance on the scoring of one player or a couple of players can ultimately lead to failure.

Here are three players from different teams who are, more often than not, depended upon more than anyone else in their side.

Tim Cahill – Everton

There’s no doubting Tim Cahill’s ability. He is a world class midfielder, certainly one of the best footballers at heading the ball, and is at the heart of the majority of Everton’s attacking play – as well-rewarded fantasy football managers will soon tell you. The problem is with Everton is that they lack an out and out striker. Despite the Toffees fielding a 4-5-1 formation, it seems impossible to predict who will be the lone forward in their attack out of Louis Saha, Ayegbeni Yakubu or Jermaine Beckford – who have mustered up a measly three league goals between them this season. Tim Cahill has scored nine out of Everton’s twenty goals to date. While this demonstrates his attacking threat and eye for goal, his side will struggle to fulfil their potential and break into the top six this season unless their strikers find some consistency, or manager David Moyes is given the opportunity to delve into the transfer market in 2011.

Andy Carroll – Newcastle

With eleven goals so far this season, Andy Carroll is currently the third top goal scorer in the Premier League – amongst names such as Dimitar Berbatov and Carlos Tevez, and more than Chelsea’s Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka combined. In Newcastle’s first home game of the season, Carroll netted a hat-trick in a 6-0 win over Aston Villa, throwing down his own gauntlet for the rest of the campaign. In fact, fourteen of Newcastle’s 22 points have come when Carroll scores. But such expectation of a 21 year old, brand new to the Premier League, must come as a lot of pressure to the striker - who picked up his first England cap earlier this year. This is not to undermine Carroll’s ability; he has proven himself as a huge threat in front of goal; but the fact that Chris Hughton was sacked earlier this month seems to be a clear indication that chairman Mike Ashley is expecting more than just survival - or even a mid-table finish (Newcastle were eleventh when Hughton lost his job) – for the Magpies this year. Should Carroll happen to miss a string of games through suspension or injury, Newcastle could struggle somewhat due to their inconsistent home and away record this season.

Carlos Tevez – Manchester City

This might sound a bit of an odd one, but before (and probably still now) the drama surrounding Tevez’s future in English football and a possible rift between himself and manager Roberto Mancini, Manchester City fans would have told you that the Argentine international provided the real cutting edge to their side’s attacking play. Tevez has scored twelve goals, all of which have come in seven of City’s eleven league wins. Although Manchester City enter into 2011 joint top of the Premier League, they have scored the least goals out of the top four sides. Although Mario Balotelli is beginning to find his feet, no other player apart from he and Tevez has scored more than twice in the Premier League for Man City this season. The argument could therefore be made that the Blues can score goals from anywhere on the pitch – which might be expected with an abundance of quality players within the squad – but Mancini is right to be looking at bringing in another striker in January (namely Wolfsburg’s Edin Dezko, if reports are correct) – to provide another goal scorer and continue Manchester City’s title ambitions – especially as goal difference could prove to be vital in May next year.