Barclays Premier League tickets available from Tixdaq.com

Bet on Tottenham with Sportingbet.com and get a free bet worth up to £50

It isn’t easy to make the step up from nPower Championship to the Barclays Premier League.

Just ask James Perch.

However, there are plenty of players taking the division by storm who could well do a job in the top flight.

With Everton boss David Moyes having secured some terrific bargains from the lower leagues over the years – such as Tim Cahill and Joleon Lescott for just £2m each – and some Premier League managers would do well to take note.

Here’s our list of the top ten Championship players of the season so far – limiting ourselves to picking one from each club.

Agree? Disagree? Let us know below.

10. David Forde (Millwall)

David Forde of Millwall shares the current division clean sheet record with Qpr stopper Paddy Kenny, but with his team far less proficient in attack, his saves have proved even more vital.

Millwall reside in 9th at time of writing, but have conceded less goals than just two teams above them. The Lions’ hopes of a playoff place are built on their solid defensive displays.

9. Russell Martin (Norwich City)

Right back Russell Martin flourished under Darren Ferguson at Peterborough, and has gone on to scale even greater heights at Norwich City. The Canaries defender has been both solid in defence and a threat going forward, and his accomplished displays have been noted by Premier League clubs.

8. Matt Mills (Reading)

Reading defender Matt Mills has been an emphatic presence at the back this season, and has also managed to score two goals. A commanding 6’3″, Mills tends to win most of the aerial battles that come his way, and he is strong in the tackle too.

If Reading can couple their impressive defensive displays with goalscoring performances from the likes of Shane Long, they look a decent bet for the playoffs.

7. Kris Commons (Derby County)

Kris Commons is constantly driving Derby forward from midfield, and his 13 goals already this season show just how much of an influence he is on their team. Manager Nigel Clough must be delighted with what he has seen from the Scotland international so far, but fans are growing increasingly worried with the lack of progress in transfer talks.

A Premier League club could well swoop in and claim Commons at a bargain price.

6. Don Cowie (Watford)

27 year-old Don Cowie is one of the biggest reasons that Watford striker Danny Graham resides at the top of the nPower Championship goalscoring charts at present.

He has provided eight assists this season – the second most in the whole division so far, and though he doesn’t score many himself, his creativity more than makes up for it.

5. Scott Sinclair (Swansea)

Scott Sinclair has scored nine Championship goals from the wing for Swansea City already this term, and 14 overall in all competitions. His pace and trickery has made him almost unplayable at times, and he is surely ready for the Premier League after failing to make it at Chelsea and Wigan Athletic.

4. Jay Bothroyd (Cardiff City)

Jay Bothroyd has come into his own in the last two seasons at Cardiff City, scoring his most ever goals in a campaign in each. This season he has proved even better, and even received a first England call up at the age of 28.

His 13 goals in 17 Championship appearances this season are illustration of the advancements he has made.

3. Luciano Becchio (Leeds United)

Luciano Becchio isn’t just Leeds United’s top goalscorer with 12 goals. The Argentine must run more than almost any player in the nPower Championship. His hard work and power have won him a legion of fans and they will have been delighted to see that he signed a new contract in December.

2. Lewis McGugan (Nottingham Forest)

The right foot of Lewis McGugan is an absolute jackhammer, and the 22 year-old midfielder has scored so many stunning goals this season it has been laughable. Ten goals from midfield, and almost all of them incredible strikes, McGugan has improved each year since his debut in 2006, and also has three assists to his name.

1. Adel Taarabt (Qpr)

On current form the most gifted player in the division. Queens Park Rangers talisman Adel Taarabt is not only the provider of the most assists in the league, but also is fourth in the top goalscorer chart.

His ability to do the unexpected has been a key reason behind QPR’s emphatic rise to the top of the nPower Championship, and having signed for the club for less than £1m in August 2010, he is now undoubtedly worth significantly more than that.

Join the Best Football Manager game now! It’s Free!

Bet on Chelsea with Sportingbet.com and get a free bet worth up to £50

Chelsea Tickets Available from Telegraph Tickets

Last Sunday afternoon Scott Sinclair celebrated his call-up to the England under-21s by scoring the only goal in Swansea’s 1-0 win against Middlesbrough.

It was a strike that represented much more than three points to both the club and the individual. For Sinclair it was his reward for a season which has seen him and Swansea make a breakthrough they have threatened for the last couple of years.

Sinclair’s arrival has coincided with Swansea becoming a real force in the Championship. Before the weekend’s win they had been in a bracket of teams vying for a playoff place behind runaway leaders Cardiff and QPR – but where others have fallen away Swansea have relentlessly pushed on to gain an advantage.
They now sit third in the division with a five-point cushion over Derby County in fourth and only two behind QPR in second. In short, they have announced their arrival as genuine promotion contenders and Sinclair to fire them into that position.

A run of one defeat in eight games, including victory in the south Wales derby over Cardiff, have underlined the Swans pedigree as more than also-rans.

Since a summer move from Chelsea Sinclair has been central to Swansea’s success scoring 12 goals in the last 16 games, including the winning goal on six occasions – a tally that speaks for itself. Things have never been so good for the 21-year-old.

The youngster has already scored more goals this season than the rest of his career combined and has taken to his new life with ease but there are reasons behind his success.

Finding a permanent home is one of them. Sinclair was loaned out six times by Chelsea, never truly able to settle into a long-term routine at any one place before moving to new surroundings. With five of those loans being to Championship sides it is no surprise that he has taken little time to settle into the division this time.
Being reunited with his former boss at Chelsea’s academy Brendan Rodgers is another factor. Rodgers has watched Sinclair’s progression since bringing him to Stamford Bridge as a teenager and has now worked wonders for Sinclair’s game restoring his confidence and recognising his ability by making him the central facet around which the Swansea team revolves.

With just one goal in 32 outings in loan spells at Birmingham and Wigan no one could have realised the impact Sinclair would make in such a short space of time.

In fact when Rodgers invested £500,000 of the club’s money in the summer it was seen by some as a gamble on a player that had not been able to make the step up at Chelsea and was being leapfrogged into the first-team fold by players younger than him.

To hear more from Michael Wade check out his Twitter @mikwade or visit his blog at http://mkwd.wordpress.com/

Join the Best Football Manager game now, Its Free!

Hilarious Football Video

The Rumour

Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti held transfer talks with Blues owner Roman Abramovich yesterday in Nice.

Corriere dello Sport says the meeting was held on one of Abramovich’s yachts and Ancelotti spoke to the Russian in English.

The pair talked about Ancelotti’s plans for new signing Ross Turnbull, the Middlesbrough goalkeeper, and also the imminent arrival of CSKA Moscow winger Yuri Zhirkov.

Abramovich also assured Ancelotti he would do everything he could to prise Alexandre Pato away from Ac Milan. Indeed, the billionaire is willing to go as high as £60 MILLION for the Brazilian striker

The Source: (Corriere dello Sport as reported on Tribalfootball.com)

The Analysis

No doubt Roman Abramovich is probably feeling left out watching as Real Madrid, and to a far lesser extent, Man City buy players at an alarming rate and for big big money whilst Chelsea bring in lesser names such as Sturridge and Turnbull, but now the Chelsea Supremo want to bid big for a player that Carlo Ancelotti knows all too well.

Alexandre Pato is a prodigious talent who at 19 already has the football world at his feet but he may be dismayed to see his countryman Kaka leave the club and could feel that Ac Milan’s star is on the wane and therefore could be tempted to move but it seems very unlikely the Italian giants could risk the ire of the fans by selling another big name this summer.

Chelsea could do with an injection up front, especially given the advancing years of the likes of Didier Drogba and the returning Andrei Shevchenko. The young strikers, such as Franco Di Santo and Scott Sinclair, they do have at the club are yet to prove themselves.

The Likelihood

Pato to Chelsea: It may well happen if enough money is waved under Silvio Berlusconi’s nose!

But there now appears to be ray of light for Sinclair. The BBC reports that Leicester City manager Ian Holloway is ready to take the board on board his club for the rest of the season on loan from Chelsea. He admits:

Someone like Scott who I have borrowed before would be a great option. We’ve asked about him and we’re waiting.

Leicester are in the Championship this season and in the Football League, loan deals occur once 7 days have passed after the January transfer market has wrapped up. It would be an intelligent move for Scott Sinclair.

Watch Chelsea live online