English Premier League Review: Samir Nasri’s Emerging Superstar Provides Arsenal With Cesc Fabregas Insurance - This Year And Beyond

Samir Nasri’s right foot may have changed the English Premier League title race. Or maybe ti was his left - I don’t know. As I think back to his 76th minute goal against Fulham, I have trouble keeping track.

It was his left foot that steered the ball past Aaron Hughes, in on Mark Schwarzer. Then it was his right foot that poked the ball out of the reach of the `keeper in the 76th minute, just as he was entering the six yard box. I guess in the end it was his left that he spun on, at that sharp angle to the left of goal, pivoting so that his right could come down on the ball. That was the foot that scored the goal, vaulting Arsenal to the top of the league, though now I don’t know which foot I originally meant to talk about. The one thing I do remember: Before Nasri danced through Fulham’s defense, Arsenal looked destined to draw.

Perhaps Saturday goal can’t be shoehorned into this foot that changed the race cliché, though that wouldn’t be the first time Nasri’s rebuked a lazy label. A native of France’s second city, Nasri spent the early part of his professional career living down the billing “The Next Zidane.” That label stuck with him until he got out of France, out of Ligue 1 and onto the London stage, when it became clear that he bore few stylistic similarities to the Algerian-French legend.

Coming from l’OM, Nasri was still a work in progress, and a spindly one at that. Great skill on the ball but lacking strength, not used to playing at the Premier League’s speed, Nasri had to grow into life at his second club. Arsène Wegner put him out wide, slowly moving him toward the middle over the last three years, watching as a prized prospect became stronger and gathered experienced.

On Saturday, the transformation became complete. Long ago Nasri ceased being somebody Arsenal needed to protect, but until this weekend’s win over Fulham, he wasn’t a player that could carry a team. Working in tandem with Cesc Fàbregas or Andrei Arshavin, Nasri had always been a great second fiddle, never showing he could steal points that were not otherwise there. This weekend, when Nasri took Robin van Persie’s lay-off and slalomed through Fulham’s defense, the latest Marseille icon make one point into three. In the process, Arsenal’s new linchpin ascended into the game’s elite.

Think across the game’s midfielders and you can come up with very few midfielders capable of being match winners. Cesc Fàbregas can carry a team to victories, as can Xavi Hernández and Andrés Iniesta. A healthy Wesley Sneijder can do the same, as could the previous incarnation of Steven Gerrard. Perhaps we can throw Michael Essien in here, too, but we’re quickly coming to the end of the list of players you can plop in the middle of the pitch and expect them to carry your team. These are players that not only need to be able to score and create goals. They have to command matches, dictate its tempo, as well as lead - be the driving force when the machine will not move.

It may be too soon to put Samir Nasri in that group. He may need to repeat his Fulham exploits a couple more times. But now we know Nasri’s potential. Now we see the potential for super stardom, the kind of upside that will make Gooners feel a little better about Cesc Fàbregas’s potential departure.

That’s a sore subject for Arsenal supporters, given last summer’s drama. While the departure of Fàbregas is an inevitability, it’s not something that needs to be hung over their fan’s necks. Still, after Saturday, the eventuality need to be as dire. Arsenal fans can focus on more positive things, like knowing the emergence of Nasir combined with the likes of Marouane Chamakh, Sebastien Squillaci, Laurent Koscielny and Lukasz Fabianski can be the difference between a late season fade and real title challenge.

And if the club needs to replace a midfielder come June, supporters have reason to think Cesc’s heir is ready to lead. By this time next year, we may be talking about Fàbregas’s departure from Arsenal in the same terms we used after Cristiano Ronaldo left Manchester United: Not as big a deal was we thought it would be.

Samir Nasri wasn’t the only player to have a breakout performance for a title contender, though David Silva’s emergence has been more subtle. The former Valencia attacker’s slow assimilation to the Premier League contributed to doubts surrounding Manchester City’s attack. Now, City’s attacking trio now in place, with Silva set to provide that crucial link between Roberto Mancini’s deep-sitting midfield at the team’s goal scorers: Carlos Tévez and Mario Balotelli.

For a City team that’s been derided for their lack of innovation, Silva provides the man who can take a ball from within his own half, turn up the pitch and create. Whether it be for Tévez or Balotelli, Silva’s skill and increasing comfort with the team gives Robeto Mancini reason to think he can deploy a more attacking set-up and expect his snipers to get the ball. And with the likes of Tévez and Balotelli the top priorities for an opponent’s defenders, Silva will have the same room that David Villa used to afford him with Los Che.

Though Silva did not figure in City’s goal against Bolton, his strong play at Eastlands led to an obvious difference in the Citizen’s quality of possession. Whereas before every City transition was defined by how quickly the team could find Tévez, on Saturday there was a scary anticipation of what Mancini’s men would do. A through ball to Tévez. Perhaps swinging it wide to Balotelli. Attack the line and lay-off for an oncoming Yaya Touré. Silva was at the fulcrum of it all, and while his effectiveness is dependent on Balotelli staying in the team and Tévez not running out of gas, Manchester City is finally set to offer an attack that will make them legitimate title contenders.

With their win over Bolton, City is only three points behind a third-place Chelsea, who dropped points at home to Everton. Though Chelsea is only two points behind Arsenal, it seems strange to talk about them as a title contender until we know when this slump’s going to end. Logically, a team two points back with 22 matches left has to be part of this discussion, but with this Saturday’s Chelsea side baring little resemblance to the team we know they can be, it feels like a better use of our time to sit back, wait, and see if that title-contending side reemerges.

With Chelsea six matches into their slump, we’re already recycling the same explanations for their fall. When they cease descending, we can resume the discussion, though it may be a few more weeks. Chelsea has Spurs, United and Arsenal over the next three match days, though given recent history, the Arsenal match may serve as Chelsea’s reprieve.

The one title contender we haven’t mentioned is Manchester United, who had their match at Bloomfield Road cancelled. Apparently Blackpool doesn’t have heaters underneath their pitch, leaving their field frozen for Saturday’s late kickoff.

I had no clue most pitches in the Premier League had heaters, but that makes sense. It is England, after all. England and winter, and since Bloomfield Road wasn’t intended to be a Premier League venue, it’s without such amenities, leaving United with a match in hand and a one point deficit on Arsenal, something that can be rectified Monday at Old Trafford.