Rising Chelsea star Sturridge is now in the big league after display in City win



By Jamie Redknapp for the Daily Mail

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

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.



At the start of the season, Sturridge would have started behind Nicolas Anelka, Didier Drogba and Torres in the pecking order. If they had clicked, he might have found himself out on loan again. Instead, Anelka is off to China and who knows what will happen next to Torres? This is also good news for the England manager. And any future England manager...



Warming the bench: Torres has fallen behind Sturridge in the pecking order

Like Danny Welbeck, who benefited from a loan spell when he went to Sunderland last season (they, too, could do with him now), Sturridge has emerged as a talent.

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.

