As we approach the business end of the season, the stars of the Premier League are not only fighting for their team’s collective goals – but also for the end of season awards.
The PFA Player of the year award seems to be cursed at the moment, none of the previous four winners have performed in the Premier League the next season. Gareth Bale and Luis Suarez, who were awarded the accolade in 2013/14 and 2014/15 respectively, left England to sign for La Liga’s headline acts merely months later.
The following two winners, Eden Hazard and Riyad Mahrez, managed just nine goals between them the season after winning it, after bagging 31 combined the previous season.
It remains to be seen who will be lifting it come May, but it appears as though Hazard could be on track for his second in the space of three seasons. Both Squawka and WhoScored believe that the Belgian has been the player of the season so far, closely followed by Arsenal talisman Alexis Sanchez.
In third place in Squawka’s performance score ranking is Tottenham star Christian Eriksen, but WhoScored have him in 13th place and Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba in third. Paul Pogba and Philippe Coutinho make up the remainder of the top five for Squawka, and Romelu Lukaku and Roberto Firmino do for WhoScored. The race for player of the year is going to go right down to the wire.