They are the human dynamos who have impressed managers who tend to have technical and tactical demands. Fernandinho and N'Golo Kante are the kindred spirits who have been crucial, the all-action midfielders who should ensure Manchester City vs. Chelsea is a high-paced, energetic affair. They are men for whom the term "holding midfielder" is a misnomer. It implies they are static presences, merely occupying a position. Instead, they are active figures, chasing the ball rather than letting it come to them.
They earn superlatives by doing the supposedly simple things with relentless enthusiasm, all-rounders who can eliminate specialists with their ability to do most elements of midfield play. Consider Antonio Conte's analysis of his near-namesake Kante five weeks ago: "I think he's a complete midfielder, not only a defensive midfielder," the Chelsea manager said. "He's a player that always arrives in the box and he has fantastic stamina, good technique and also good positioning and good personality."
There are certain similarities with Pep Guardiola's October appraisal of Fernandinho: "Fernandinho can do everything," the City manager told British newspapers. "What we have achieved so far would have been impossible without him. He is fast, he is intelligent, strong in the air and he can play in several positions. No sooner does he see a space than he runs there immediately. If you need someone to make a correction or a challenge, he sees it too. If a team had three Fernandinhos, they would be champions."
Instead City have Fernandinho and Fernando, which is not quite the same thing. Yet Guardiola highlighted a ubiquity that can render some midfield destroyers indispensable.
"If Chelsea bought Kante, it's because he played as two players last season," said Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri in August. "The referee counted 11 but we were 12."
That capacity to do the work of two men can prove decisive. Barring the invariably injured Owen Hargreaves, Kante could become the first player since Eric Cantona to win the English top flight in successive seasons but with different clubs. Fernandinho could get his seventh league title in nine years, dating back to his time at Shakhtar Donetsk.
He was seen as an attacking midfielder then, Kante as a defensive midfielder for Leicester. Now there is something of a role reversal as each shows the range of his skills. Kante has operated further upfield since Conte switched from 4-1-4-1 to 3-4-2-1. He has already equalled his goal tally for Leicester, skipping through the Manchester United defence to open his Chelsea account. As Conte pointed out, it could easily have been his third goal in as many games.
His game is changing. Kante no longer tops the tackling statistics, a consequence of playing in a team who have greater possession. But his pass completion rate has gone up, from 81.6 percent to 89.7, according to whoscored.com. Fernandinho averages 72 passes per game, ranking second in the division. Kante comes in eighth, with 66. The ball-winner has become a ball-player.
While Fernandinho displayed his offensive qualities at Burnley last week, creating three chances and fashioning Sergio Aguero's winner when Fernando's presence gave him more licence to go forward, he has otherwise retreated, partly because of Guardiola's tactics. When the City centre-backs split, Fernandinho can materialise between them, seeming to adopt the role David Luiz does for Chelsea.
Guardiola deployed the Brazilian as a central defender in preseason friendlies and has name checked him as a possible option to slot in there now that Vincent Kompany is out until 2017. If City had three Fernandinhos, one may play there while a personal theory is that Guardiola could see Fernandinho as a more powerful and technical alternative to Bacary Sagna and Pablo Zabaleta at right-back. Instead, he has proved too important to be shifted from the midfield.
He has been Guardiola's pivot, a tactical term that also indicates how pivotal he has been. It has added significance considering both the Brazilian's predecessors and his manager's playing pedigree in that position. Guardiola's teams are defined to some degree by his deep-lying midfielders: Sergio Busquets in his Barcelona team, Philipp Lahm and Xabi Alonso in his Bayern Munich sides. Some felt that role was earmarked for Ilkay Gundogan at City. Instead the German has usually operated further forward. Fernandinho has been a sort of supercharged Guardiola, with the pace and stamina the Catalan lacked in his playing days.
If the City manager may see something of himself in Fernandinho, Conte almost certainly does in Kante. Like the Frenchman now, the Italian was a workhorse, an irregular scorer but an incessant trier who was charged with getting the ball and giving it to more-talented teammates. For Zinedine Zidane in the Juventus side of the late-'90s, read Eden Hazard in this Chelsea group today. Kante perhaps resembles Conte more than any of the fabled Juventus midfield the latter managed -- Paul Pogba, Andrea Pirlo, Arturo Vidal or Claudio Marchisio -- while Fernandinho, while not quite possessing the acute footballing intelligence that allowed Guardiola to conquer his physical limitations and become Barcelona captain, has attributes the Catalan could only envy as a player.
Each is channelling his manager and charging around for him. They are influencers, shaping sides and seasons. The chances are that whichever has the greatest impact on Saturday will emerge a winner.