Reader Poll: EPL Player of the Season

Thierry Henry, Alan Shearer, Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale. These are some previous winners of the prestigious PFA Players’ Player of the Year. There is no honor better than being recognized by your fellow footballers for your year’s work. The race for the award this season is expected to be tight, with many players in with a shout of joining the pantheon of past winners. Based on popular opinion and the nominees for the recently announced EA Sports Premier League Player of the Season, we take a look at the top contenders for the PFA Players’ Player of the Year

Erling Haaland

With 36 goals and eight assists in just 35 Premier League games, Haaland is the odds-on favorite for the Player of the Season’s gong. Signed from Borussia Dortmund last summer, Haaland has taken to the Premier League like a duck to water and has made a mockery of fears that he might struggle to adapt to the pace and physicality of Premier League football. While his 36 goals might dominate the headlines, his eight assists point towards an improvement in his general link-up play with teammates. His 36 goals is also a new single-season record since the Premier League began in 1992.

Kevin De Bruyne

De Bruyne enjoyed a topsy-turvy season that saw him swing between average and exceptional. The Belgian had a quiet start, failing to exert his usual level of influence in games and struggling to deliver goals or assists. The World Cup disappointment seemed to recharge him, as he came back firing on all cylinders, and Pep Guardiola’s star-studded team chased down and passed a young Gunners side in the race for the Premier League title. De Bruyne stepped up when it mattered most, finishing the season with 16 assists — the most in the Prem, and scoring twice against Arsenal to dim the Gunners hopes for their first EPL title in over 17 years.

De Bruyne has the opportunity to become the first player to win the Players Player of the Season three times.

Martin Odegaard

Martin Odegaard has come up in leaps and bounds this season, and he is beginning to show why almost every big club wanted him when he was just 14 years old. After a below-par seven goals and four assists in the 2021/22 campaign, Odegaard took the bull by the horns this season, delivering 15 goals and 7 assists as the Gunners flirted with the Premier League title. Captain Odegaard led by example. leting his football to do the talking. While the Gunners’ season might have ended in disappointment due to a late collapse in the Premier League title race, Odegaard clearly seems to have done enough to merit a place among the candidates for the Player of the Season award.

Bukayo Saka

Arsenal academy graduate Saka helped spearhead the Gunners’ failed title tilt that saw them finish eight points behind league winners Manchester City. Saka continued from where he left off in the 21/22 season by hitting the ground running this year. Saka was the only player in the league to hit double figures for both goals and assists this season; his tally of 14 goals and 11 assists is also his best-ever return. His ability to wriggle free from challenges and evade defenders is exceptional, and he is also beginning to believe more in his ability to hit long-range crackers. And aside from his talents on the field, he is possibly one of the nicest men on earth.

Marcus Rashford

Without the legendary but disruptive Cristiano Ronaldo in their ranks, Manchester United needed a new star man and up-rose Marcus Rashford. Rashford confounded his critics by equaling his best goal-scoring season, helping to propel Manchester United back into the Champions League.

Rashford’s ability to deploy anywhere across the front line was crucial for ten Hag this season. The English international was asked to fill different roles and positions based on the opposition and personnel available from game to game. His ability to run at defenders and make things happen meant he attracted more attention to himself, giving his teammates more space to thrive.

Harry Kane

With 30 goals and three assists, Kane has just finished the most productive season of his career, but the same can’t be said for his troubled club Tottenham. While Kane has maintained his level by repeatedly hitting the net and putting Haaland under pressure in the Premier League Golden Bolt race, Tottenham has taken a step backward by failing to qualify for the Champions League and finishing in 8th position.

Many argue that Kane’s 30 goals for a troubled and mediocre Tottenham side that changed managers thrice this season was a more difficult accomplishment than Haaland’s 36 from a star-studded juggernaut coached by Pep Guardiola. Do you agree?

Kieran Trippier

Newcastle’s top-four finish meant a first Champions League qualification in 20 years, and a lot of the credit belongs to Trippier. The right back enjoyed the best season of his career, starting every league game and scoring a goal and adding seven assists and 16 clean sheets to help Eddie Howe deliver Champions League football to the Toon Army.

On a night when Newcastle’s top-four hopes hung in the balance as they faced top-four rivals Brighton in GW-36, Trippier rose to the occasion by delivering assists for the first two goals, calming nerves at Saint James Park and setting the stage for the crucial 4-1 victory.