Jesus Navas’s flicker now needs to be a fire at Manchester City – EPL talking points

Thomas Woods writes Jesus Navas 'was superb in the win over West Ham on Sunday' for Manchester City - and that more such performances will be necessary for Navas to continue to have a role for the club.

Jesus Navas of Manchester City and Frank Lampard of Manchester City celebrate after James Collins of West Ham (not pictured) scored an own goal during City's Premier League win on Sunday. Clive Brunskill / Getty Images / April 19, 2015Show less

Navas playing his future

As Manchester City's bid to retain their title has faltered, so people have looked to pinpoint reasons for why the team has taken a backwards step this season.

Manager Manuel Pellegrini has been blamed as have City’s recent big-money signings.

Certainly the likes of Eliaquim Mangala, Stevan Jovetic and Fernando have a lot to prove and there is talk of big changes in playing personnel at City this summer.

Another player whose future looks uncertain is Jesus Navas.

The Spanish winger arrived two summers ago with major expectations.

He was possibly Sevilla’s most important player and the only reason he hadn’t moved to a bigger club earlier was because he suffered from chronic homesickness, which caused panic attacks when he left the city meaning he often could not travel to European away games with Sevilla. A problem he eventually overcame.

With Spain, he was usually Vicente del Bosque’s go-to substitute when the manager needed to change the game. Navas’s pacey dribble set in motion the move that led to Andres Iniesta’s winning goal in the 2010 World Cup final.

He scored the winner in a group game against Croatia at Euro 2012 that handed Spain top spot in a tournament they eventually won.

So when he joined City at the age of 27 there was a feeling that Navas was a player about to hit his peak who could add a great deal of quality to the Manchester club.

But he has underachieved in the Premier League.

One statistic is a good barometer of this – assists.

At Sevilla, between 2008/09 and 12/13, he played more than 30 league games in a season four times. In three of those four seasons he assisted in double figures – 13, 13 and 14.

At City, having played 30 league games in both seasons so far, he has seven assists in each campaign. It’s far from awful, but shows that City have yet to get the best out of him.

He has been a squad player at City, but he has a great chance to end this season on a high and prove that he can play a part next season.

Navas was superb in the win over West Ham on Sunday and with David Silva likely to miss some games with injury, Navas may get an uninterrupted run in the team.

There are few players faster than him and Sergio Aguero and Co should be feasting on his assists.

One issue he seems to have is failing to play first-time crosses, instead taking a touch and allowing the defence to set themselves.

His wicked first-time delivery led to James Collins’s own goal on Sunday – more of that and he will be pulling on a sky blue shirt again next season.

Leicester reaping rewards

Leicester City’s hierarchy could easily have panicked and sacked manager Nigel Pearson this season. The promoted club started the season brightly, with two wins and three draws in their first seven games.

But they hit bottom spot after Game 13 and were seven points from safety at the end of March. With so much money at stake with avoiding relegation in the Premier League, nine out of 10 boards would have changed manager.

But Pearson did something right last season in getting Leicester promoted and he has been allowed to turn things around in superb fashion for his side.

Three wins in a row and he has a settled team who are playing for their manager.

It is now hard to see how Leicester don’t stay up. They are 18th, level on points with Hull City and one below Sunderland. Both those teams have wretched run-ins while Leicester have four of their six remaining games at home, including QPR on the last day of the season.

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