Dear Santa: The Premier League Christmas wish listВ

Just one striker please boss

Santa may be busying himself for a hectic Wednesday night but there is still time for some last-minute letters to drop onto the North Pole doormat. Stephen Tudor sneaks a peek at six crayon-scrawled requests from the world of football.  

Brendan Rodgers - Breathing space

It's been a torrid 2014/15 for Brendan's Reds so far that contrasts sharply with the unstoppable blitzkrieg of last season. 

Yet, amid the post-Suarez doom and gloom, there are finally signs for optimism not least the imminent return of Daniel Sturridge to terrorise defences as he makes up for lost time.

The recent form of Lazar Markovic and Adam Lallana bodes well and shows they're finally settling while Martin Skrtel's bullet-header equaliser on Sunday - head wound and all - epitomises the spirit that's evidently still strong in the camp.

The shrewd addition of a ball-playing centre-back, adept at a back three, in the January window and these past few months could yet be viewed as a blip.

Sam Allardyce - Reality check 

This admittedly ethereal gift is not for Sam himself but rather to bestow to the fans who are understandably dreaming of a Champions League spot.

Risking vertigo in the top four at Christmas is an incredible achievement but as the far-fetched becomes increasingly attainable so too will expectation levels rise around Upton Park. Unfortunately this is usually when injuries begin to take their toll and form takes a dip. Betfair Sportsbook odds of 13.012/1 for a Top Four finish represent the likeliness of the task at hand.  

Big Sam will be hammering his players each and every day to keep their feet on the ground. He will hope for similar from the supporters. 

Lee Cattermole - A reliable watch

Part pit bull, part headless chicken the Sunderland menace reached an unwelcome milestone last weekend with his 70th yellow card of his career, the only player with fewer than 250 appearances to hit that figure.

Ask any Mackem and they'll swear blind Cattermole is ferocious but fair so the only logical conclusion is that the player with the second most dismissals since the Premier league was formed - and still only 26 to boot - has 'timing issues'.

It presumably contravenes a hundred rules but perhaps an exception can be made for the combative midfielder to be allowed to sport a watch during games? If only for the sake of opposition ankles everywhere. 

Thierry Henry - A Scouse dictionary 

Sky's new signing may have been a genius with his feet - and hands as the cheated Irish will attest to - and he is certainly as urbane and articulate as a footballer gets.

Now though, after an illustrious career of conjuring up magic and collecting silverware, his greatest challenge lies ahead - understanding fellow pundit Jamie Carragher.

This dictionary should at least make things easier but lord help the Parisian when Jamie gets excited.

"Dis was deffo offsiide Thierry tho yer bleurt" 

Cristiano Ronaldo - Humility

It takes a certain, shall we say, confidence to erect a museum to yourself at the age of 29 complete with 150 trophies, an extra room to house future awards, and a statue that flatteringly bulges in all the right places. Yet that's exactly what Ronaldo - or 'CR7' as he probably refers to himself in the third person - did this week. 

It's further proof that the extraordinarily gifted usually have an extraordinary ego to go with it.

We eagerly await the Joey Barton Persecution Complex to open in the new year. 

Manuel Pellegrini - A new striker 

The 4-6-0 with a 'false 9' formation may be ticking the victories over nicely during a favourable festive schedule but the moment the January window swings ajar Manuel Pellegrini must swoop for a striker, preferably one fit and ready for service.

To paraphrase Oscar Wilde to lose three forwards to injury may be regarded as misfortune; to let another go last summer now looks like carelessness.

In January alone City - the 3.185/40 Premier League second favourites - face Everton, Arsenal and Chelsea on the bounce and with a striker rota that consists of a duo made of glass and the other being Edin Dzeko needs most definitely must.

Aston Vila's Christian Benteke anyone?