He is a massive player for us," Simon Mignolet told the Liverpool Echo after the home win over Burnley. "He is a very positive character who always works hard and leads by example. He's vocal both on the pitch and in the dressing room. He goes in front of us and everyone follows behind. We've got a young squad but that doesn't mean there aren't leaders in the team."
It's a paragraph that could have been used about Steven Gerrard at any point over the last 11 years of his captaincy but, with Gerrard missing through injury, it is Jordan Henderson who has stepped up. And stepped up he truly has.
Henderson opened the scoring for the second consecutive match on Wednesday, a clean drive reminiscent of Gerrard's famous goal against Olympiakos in 2005, but it was his cross for Sturridge's goal that really made the mouth water. He is slowly becoming a master of most trades, a view shared by Brendan Rodgers.
"He is improving all the time and as he matures even more tactically he will become even better," said Rodgers post-match. "He has always had athleticism, he is born with a natural gift to run, and tactically he is improving all the time and his passing is improving and he is becoming one of the real leaders of this team. It was a wonderful performance by him."
It's difficult to argue with any of that assessment. Henderson is far from Gerrard's replacement and further from the complete midfielder, but he's having a damn good go.
Aston Villa
The big winners of the midweek, as much due to the ineptitude of their rivals as their own excellence. The obvious retort is that you don't have to achieve distinction to succeed in the Premier League's bottom half - Villa were the only side outside the top eight to win.
Whilst the media continues its Tim-mania, it's worth remembering that this was a victory achieved in the last minute thanks to a shambolic mistake from West Brom's Ben Foster. Sherwood has three points from three games, the manager's admission that "someone shined down on us" an honest assessment of the tough task that still remains.
That said, this did feel like a rejuvenated Villa, aided by a dismal first-half display from the visitors. They had more shots and shots on target than in any league game this season, and scored two league goals in a match for only the second time since August. The atmosphere at the final whistle reflected Sherwood's mood, though without some of the ridiculous displays of public emotion.
One swallow does not make a summer, however. Villa scored two or more goals in consecutive league games once in 2014 and have won consecutive PL games just six times since May 2011. It seems the perfect time for a repeat.
Ashley Young
It's easy to feel sympathy for Ashley Young. This is a player whose reputation had become a joke, the personification of Manchester United's recent decline. He was nothing more than a joke figure among the Old Trafford support, his most notable strength a partiality to dive in the box for the cause.
Young now looks a player transformed, the brightest spark in the dim light of United's season. Yet he is still treated as a cause of mirth, the amusing exception to the rule of Van Gaal. "It's not all bad, he's actually got Ashley Young doing something," is the sarcastic reminder.
That seems inherently unfair. Young was criticised for his United slump, so it is only right that he receives the plaudits for his redemption at Old Trafford. He has been comfortably United's best outfield player in the victories over Sunderland and Newcastle, the only United player to create more than one chance at St James' Park. Young's late winning goal came exactly three years after his last.
Young's versatility has also been more than useful to Van Gaal. He has been used at left wing-back, a regulation left midfielder and as an attacking left winger, also appearing on the right wing against Stoke on New Year's Day. He has already played 250 more league minutes this season than last.
"I can play in both wing-back positions and if the manager calls on me to do something I've got every confidence in myself to go out there and play well," said Young in pre-season. At the time it seemed like a clichéd "pick me" statement to his new manager, but Young has backed up that promise with evidence and form. Rather than treating him like a joke, maybe we should applaud his resurgence. After all, it's not his fault so few of his teammates are performing.
Medical Staff At White Hart Lane
It was a horrible scene to watch, followed by a mercifully pleasant ending. When Bafetimbi Gomis collapsed on the White Hart Lane pitch, the mind inevitably immediately turned to Fabrice Muamba's cardiac arrest in the same stadium in March 2012. Both sets of players struggled to contain their emotions, whilst fans fell silent. Everybody understandably feared the worst.
The only people not paralysed by fear were the medical staff at White Hart Lane, who raced to the scene. If it seems unnecessary to praise people for just doing their job, I don't apologise.
Thankfully the incident was not serious - Gomis has a history of fainting. The striker had a series of tests in 2009 after three separate incidents in France, indicating that there is no serious underlying health issue.
"I have been under a great deal of stress and fatigue due to my father's health that requires me to go back and forth to France," Gomis tweeted late on Wednesday evening. "I wanted to reassure you concerning my health. It actually looks much more scary than physically dangerous. I am feeling well now."
That's bloody great to hear.
David Silva
It was the only flaw in David Silva's game, now rectified. Before this season Manchester City's wizard had never scored more than eight league goals in a season throughout his career. His scruffy finish against Leicester took him to double figures for the season.
In a listless, uninspiring victory, it was yet again left to Silva to produce City's only magical moments. I'm trying not to think about the fact that he's nearly 30.
Eden Hazard
Quite probably the best player in the Premier League.
Victor Moses
Quite probably the most improved player in the Premier League. And a majestic header to boot.
Jonas Gutierrez
It has been a difficult few weeks/months/years to be a Newcastle United supporter. They are a community who, more than any other, live their lives through the fortunes of their beloved club, forced to watch as their club is rotted by the celebration of mediocrity.
The masses revolt whilst a billionaire puppet-master sticks his fingers in his ears and repeatedly shouts his bank balance until the crowd eventually grow weary. It's a vacuous existence, and yet blind loyalty and addiction keeps them coming back for more - they are ripe for exploitation.
One of the reasons that football is so wonderful is the propensity for the sun to shine through even the darkest clouds, even if only for the briefest of moments. At St James' Park on Wednesday, in the middle of just another miserable home performance, the clouds parted. After 17 months out following a battle with testicular cancer, Jonas Gutierrez took to the field once again.
The cacophonous crowd reaction to Gutierrez's introduction made the spine tingle, whilst immediately being given the captain's armband by Fabricio Coloccini provoked that weird churny feeling in the stomach. Form a queue to call me a soppy sod.
His return is an emphatic reminder that we are guilty of treating footballers as robots, immune to the travails of everyday life. Even if Gutierrez never wins another match as a player, he has won the most important battle of his life. Welcome back.
Losers
Everton and Roberto Martinez
I have been given some gentle stick for not including Everton in the Losers list for some time. Fear not, they're now getting both barrels. Everton are a club sleepwalking their way to relegation trouble.
Roberto Martinez's side travelled to Stoke on Wednesday evening, and you expected them to lose, which they promptly did with a whimper - those are difficult words for supporters to read. Everton have progressed in the Europa League, but using that as evidence for continued faith is like trying to survive on a diet of jelly and ice cream.
It's now one win in 12 league games, Crystal Palace and QPR the only two Premier League teams beaten in any competition over the last three months. Since November 22, Everton have taken 11 points from 16 matches. Only Leicester have fewer, and they are a) bottom, b) seven points from safety and c) have a game in hand.
That date of November 22 is used because it raises an interesting point. At that time Everton sat three points ahead of Liverpool, but they are now 23 points behind. It is a dramatic swing in just over 100 days.
Whilst Brendan Rodgers was deservedly criticised for Liverpool's form, he inspired a resurgence through a significant shift in shape and style to the current 3-4-3 formation. "I knew I had to do something fairly radical because I had seen enough of the players to know we were not going to be able to shape up and work and play as we had done for the previous couple of years with what we had got," Rodgers said. "I am an innovative coach, and I needed to find a way to make us play better."
Martinez has taken the opposite approach, persisting with the same shape, same style and same tedium. It's producing the same results. If necessity is the mother of invention, Everton's manager does not subscribe to a Platonist school of thought.
It is broke, and Martinez is not fixing it. This is their worst start to a season for 88 years. The Spaniard is not yet a dead man walking, but the situation looks desperate.
Most of Everton's problems come down to the ludicrous decision to buy Romelu Lukaku. Lukaku is a wonderful striker and will improve, but desperately needs support. Splashing all of his budget on one player before a campaign in which a thin squad was fighting on four fronts was bordering on gross negligence from Martinez. Everton's defence is crying out for reinvestment.
Amidst the obvious negativity, Martinez's insistence on looking on the bright side is grating with Everton fans. "We're not looking down and we've got 30 points to play for, which we will fight for our lives for," he said after the loss at Stoke. "We haven't got the results that our performances deserve." It's regularly repeated, but a complete fallacy: Everton have got exactly the results their performances deserve.
Martinez's positive schtick can only last so long. He may be a devout believer in the benefits of positive thinking, but the chirpy, chipper attitude fails to cover the damning reality. Supporters want their manager to reflect their own feelings. Be outspoken for a change, show some sympathy or empathy with those that are being served up dirge on a weekly basis.
Here is a simple dose of reality for Martinez: There is no Everton player currently performing anywhere near their maximum. That will eventually produce only one consequence: The buck stops with the manager.
Angel Di Maria
"The first season is always difficult," Louis van Gaal began in a plea for patience with Angel Di Maria. "For me it is not a big surprise, it would be more of a big surprise if he (had) adapted as quickly as possible."
Except that, actually, Di Maria did adapt quickly. Manchester United's official site described his performance on his home debut as 'sizzling form throughout', and the Argentinean registered four assists and three goals in his first six Premier league games. It was then that his form tailed off.
Coincidentally or otherwise, Di Maria's seventh match (against Chelsea) was the first game in which he was deployed as a striker by Van Gaal. His return is four assists and one goal in 18 matches since - the goal came against Yeovil.
Van Gaal's calls for patience are understandable, but the manager must concede that playing Di Maria as a striker was an experiment that failed entirely. He must also admit that the slump in form of his £60m signing may at least part be due to his own tactical gamble.
Gone is the belief, the confidence and the spark. Di Maria was hauled off after just 57 minutes at St James' Park. He lost possession 24 times in 57 minutes, five times more than any other player in the entire match. The obvious retort is that Di Maria shuns the simple in favour of the killer pass, but that doesn't wash. For £60m you would expect a far greater degree of proficiency, even when attempting the difficult.
Ross Barkley
Ross Barkley was left on the bench for the entirety of Everton's 2-0 loss at Stoke, an unused substitute at a time when Roberto Martinez desperately needed a spark of creativity. That doesn't look good.
And yet Martinez had reasons to ignore the midfielder. In Barkley's last ten Premier League games. he has contributed a grand total of no goals and no assists. More worryingly is a figure of just six chances created in those ten matches. Predictions of glory are quickly becoming delusions of grandeur.
Promoted Clubs
The gap is only three points, but Aston Villa's victory over West Brom should cause panic at the three promoted clubs. These are the new bottom three, and it suddenly feels as if a response will be tough to find. Is hard work enough for Burnley? Have Leicester sunk without trace? Are QPR set for financial meltdown?
In October, I wrote a piece in which I expressed concern that the Championship was getting weaker. It is still a wonderfully fun division, but enjoyment is not directly proportional to ability or quality. The piece received some criticism, with accusations that I was being a pessimistic killjoy.
Leicester won the Championship at a canter last season with a total of 102 points, the highest total in eight years. And yet despite spending £20m, Nigel Pearson's side look lost in a bottom half which seems to have over-ordered on the dross. Burnley were also promoted with ease, and now look to be sinking at exactly the wrong time - they have 11 points since the beginning of December. Even if you thought that gambling on expensive experience was the answer, QPR offer emphatic evidence to the contrary.
In the first ten years of the Premier League, the average finishing position of a club promoted automatically from the second tier was 13.2. The figure for the last ten years is 15.2, while this has dropped further to 16.3 in the last three seasons. There are exceptions, of course (Swansea and Southampton for example), but with all three promoted sides occupying the bottom three, the gap between the second and first tier looks increasingly pronounced. The new television deal might not help either.
Jonny Evans and Papiss Cisse
Whether or not it is football's 'biggest sin' is open to debate. That seems to be the decree from anyone who has played the game professionally, but surely they are the ones whose careers haven't been ending by wild, knee-height challenges.
The salient point is that spitting on someone is sleazy and dirty. It's unhygienic and it's foul. And it is completely unnecessary. Evans and Cisse should expect and deserve to receive long bans.
If you act like children, expect to be treated like children. Go sit in the naughty corner for four matches.
