Player of the Year: Who is bound to win the award?
This is the second part of the list for who I feel is the most deserving player to win the PFA Player's Player of the Year award. I decided to wait until after the final match-day of the season had been played to see if any of the top tier candidates may earn a higher spot in these rankings.
5. Mo Salah
picture from Sky Sports
Mo Salah has had another fine season for Liverpool as their top scorer for the third consecutive season. He will feel unlucky to be one goal shy of reaching the 20 goal mark in the Premier League for a third season in a row but this should not take away from his immense impact for the Champions.
He is one of only 2 players this season to reach double figures in both goals and assists in the league, the other being Kevin De Bruyne. A former winner of the Player of the Season award himself, his hunger for goals has certainly helped Liverpool be runaway title winners as he scored '15 "big chances" this season. Albeit he has also missed the same number of "big chances" this season but has been unfortunate to hit the woodwork 5 times this season.
Not only this but no other player has more on-target shots (59) than Salah this season. All of this is a testament to his fantastic attacking positional play. Few others have had his knack for being in the right place at the right time to score goals.
4. Virgil Van Dijk
picture from TalkSPORT
Liverpool's No.4 is currently the reigning PFA Player of the Season and considered by many to be the absolute best centre back in the league. He has been in truly fine form in the heart of Liverpool's defence but he might just be a victim of his own individual success from last season.
Van Dijk has hardly put a foot wrong this season despite being at fault for Arsenal's equaliser in Liverpool's most recent league defeat. Although this is his only error leading to a goal this season, and he may be easily forgiven as Liverpool had already secured the league title long before that game. He has been involved in a league-high 15 clean sheets.
The stalwart defender has been so consistent this season and has hardly dropped any form compared to last season. But such was his impressive form from the previous year that spectators haven't been as amazed this season with his similar level of defensive prowess. He has started every game this season and has scored 5 goals, including a goal against Newcastle in the final game. His goals mean he is one of the biggest aerial threats with the joint most headers (5). He is joint top 5 in "last man tackles" and no player has completed more passes than him.
3. Jordan Henderson
picture from Premier League.com
It would be an unfair understatement to say he is simply the leader of the best team this season. For so long, Jordan Henderson has gone unsung for what he offers his team. Many neutral fans usually list numerous Liverpool players above him in importance but this season he has finally gotten the recognition he so richly deserves.
He is maybe the 'punter's favourite', if you will, to win the award due to him being recognised as the driving of the team that has won the title by a mile this year. His stats may not make you do a double-take with 4 goals and 5 assists this season. But his contribution cannot be measured in goals/assists alone. His energy and consistent mix of tackling, covering space, passing had set the tone in many of Liverpool's games this season.
It is no coincidence that as soon as Henderson picked up an injury in February that Liverpool lost the very next game they played in the league. A disastrous 3-0 defeat by Watford was the first of 3 defeats Liverpool have had in the league, of which Henderson has only played in one of them. Before the season was postponed, Liverpool had a 80% win rate in all competitions when Henderson played. It drops to 61.5% when he's not in the team (before the season restarted).
It really goes to show he has been so important and amongst the league's most consistent performers. But not quite the best player this season.
2. Sadio Mane
picture from The Telegraph
A number of Liverpool players have been exceptional this season, but in my view none have managed to outperform the Senegalese winger. His goal in his club's final game of the season took his tally to 18 league goals with 7 assists. He may not be Liverpool's top scorer in the league this season but his goals and performances have been particularly crucial to his team's wins.
Mane has scored numerous game-winning goals this season. He's done so against Newcastle, Wolves, Bournemouth and came off the bench after being injured for a few games to score the winner against Norwich.
Perhaps a particularly crucial winner in Liverpool's 2-1 comeback win vs Aston Villa earlier in the season. His late assist as well as his stoppage time winner gave Liverpool a six point lead before their upcoming game against Man City. That win no doubt gave them confidence heading into that massive game.
His goals this season have mattered so much, as Opta stats show that his goals have impacted Liverpool gaining 18 points this season. Only Raul Jimenez and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang have scored goals that contributed to more points won for their teams.
He's been fantastic this season but one player has been better.
1. Kevin De Bruyne
picture from Eurosport UK
The best player. It's just that simple. Kevin De Bruyne has been scintillating to watch this entire season and has demonstrated remarkable consistency in being a dangerous play maker. As the season has now ended he has manage to equal Thierry Henry's long-standing record for most assists in a season with 20. This is no mean feat as he is the first player to do so since Henry set the record in the 2002-03 season.
But even aside from the assists, he has dazzled spectators this season with countless exquisite passes and has scored some absolute screamers too. His performance against Norwich in Man City's last game featured the record-equalling assist that most fans and pundits expected him to have, as City played against the league's bottom team. But he scored two stunning strikes in both halves which reminded everyone just how lethal a finisher he can be when he finds space.
This season he comfortably has 7 more assists than the anyone else in the league. He's even had additional assists taken off like a cross setting up Sterling's opener vs Arsenal because it deflected off David Luiz along the way. No player has contributed to more than his combined 33 goals and assists in the Premier League. On top of that he has created the most "big chances" (33), played the most through balls (32), is top 2 in crosses and is top 5 in shots taken. A massive threat in multiple attacking categories.
The Belgian midfielder may have felt aggrieved to have missed out to Mo Salah two seasons ago for the PFA Player of the Season award as De Bruyne was brilliant that season too. But this season De Bruyne has been too good to not win this award. I can't imagine there is a player who has done more than him to win this award this season.
(Lead Image Credit: William Okafor-Oregan)
Comments
Post a Comment