The Expert: Anichebe & Sunderland giving one another a second chance

When Sunderland picked up Victor Anichebe on a free transfer at the beginning of September, it seemed a move born of desperation. Sunderland desperately needed a striker as back-up for Jermain Defoe and Anichebe desperately needed a club having been released by West Bromwich Albion following a season in which he started only three games. It was a marriage of convenience but, to widespread surprise, the Nigerian has reinvigorated Sunderland's season.

He has started just two league games for the club, but they have been the last two. They have been the only games Sunderland have won this season, and he has contributed three goals. "He was a good team player for us and he was like a young Drogba at times he was that good," said Sunderland's manager David Moyes after Saturday's 3-0 win over Hull City. "He's been a bit unlucky with a few other chances but he's helped us find a way to win this game. When we've needed people that can finish we've had them."

Moyes must take significant credit. It was he who gave Anichebe his debut as a 17 year old at Everton and he seems to have restored a level of confidence that was lost during his time at the Hawthorns. Anichebe seems intent on repaying his faith. When the lights went off early in the second half on Saturday, he said to Jermain Defoe, who had given Sunderland the lead, "I have to score, I have to score." Defoe told him to calm down and that the goals would come and then laid on the second of the two he did score.

Watching Sunderland's win over Bournemouth on Sky, Paul Merson said nobody would play better all season than Anichebe had that day and, while that may be an exaggeration, what was clear that day was the sense of a player unleashed, somebody given another chance and determined to take it. Defoe has been through something similar: when he burst into tears after scoring she winner against Newcastle the season before last, he said he was overcome by the emotion of scoring a major goal in a major game again, something he feared had been lost during his ill-fated stint at Toronto.

That perhaps explains why there seems such a collective blind-spot about his age. Anichebe is 28, yet Moyes speaks of him as a "young" Drogba. The former Sunderland great Gary Rowell, now a local newspaper columnist, said earlier this month that Anichebe was "like a 21 year old" because of the way his career has stalled, in part due to injury. He is still learning and he perhaps does not have the experience-based wisdom you might expect from a 28 year old. On the plus side, though, he is still fresh and buzzing with enthusiasm, revelling in a role cutting in from the right.

It's very early days, of course, but it seems signifying that he's winning more aerial duels (7.9) and attempting more tackles (2.8) per 90 minutes than in any previous season. That suggests a level of effort. There's only been one previous season when he's averaged more shots per 90 minutes (3.3). Perhaps games against Bournemouth (8.27 rating) and Hull (9.33) aren't the toughest tests but when he's been WhoScored.com man of the match in both, it's hard to ask for more. He managed five shots and was fouled three times against Hull, suggesting what a persistent threat he was.

Sunderland's approach has clarified over the past two games into one based on the counter-attack. Even against Hull they had just 42% possession. Anichebe's power is vital in giving them an outlet they had perhaps previously lacked, a forcefulness and directness that enhances their goal threat. Whether he remains as effective against better sides remains to be seen but if nothing else Sunderland have given Anichebe another chance, and the forward has given the club a sense of hope that had all but evaporated by the beginning of the month.