Jamie Carragher has revealed the three Premier League stars he believes are in the running for the Player of the Season award and says the award will be decided by the player who propels his team to the title.
After 27 games, Jurgen Klopp’s side sit first in the league, with just two points separating Liverpool from Manchester City and Arsenal.
But with 11 Premier League games remaining, this could be one of the closest title races we have had in a long time, with Carragher admitting in December that he favored the Gunners over his former club after the 1-1 draw. at Anfield. .
Premier League data has also revealed that Mikel Arteta’s side could have the easiest remaining set of fixtures of the trio, with four of their games coming against teams in the bottom half of the table.
Despite that, each team is packed with talented players, and the former Liverpool man praises both Arsenal and Liverpool for pushing City to the limit this season and their financial advantage in recent seasons.
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“We rarely have this situation in the Premier League and it has to be savored, and hopefully all three clubs will stay in the fight until the end.” Carragher wrote in his column in The Telegraph.
“It is a tribute to the way Liverpool and Arsenal are run that, despite City’s financial advantage, their titles have been prevented from becoming an annual procession.”
Carragher subsequently named Phil Foden, Declan Rice and Virgil van Dijk as the three players each team will look to lead them to the title and all could be named Premier League Player of the Year.
The former defender first praised Foden as the “natural heir to Kevin De Bruyne”, stating: “The difference between City, Liverpool and Arsenal is this: take Van Dijk or Rice out of your team and neither club would be contenders. “. The city would continue to prosper without Foden. That’s a reflection of the depth of his team and is not meant to downplay his brilliance.
‘I have defended Foden for a long time. In terms of pure talent, he is England’s best player and a break with tradition in terms of what he brings to his club and his country.”
He then turned his attention to the City star’s England team-mate Rice, claiming that the £105m Arsenal paid for him in the summer was “a bargain” and could be the “final piece of Arsenal’s jigsaw. turning a team of potential into champions.
“There is no expectation of them (Arsenal) faltering like they did at this point 12 months ago,” he added, pointing to the Gunner’s decline towards the end of the 2022-23 campaign. “Rice is the most important reason for this, adding toughness to the team’s backbone.”
After returning from an ACL injury suffered in the Merseyside derby in 2020, Van Dijk resumed his leadership at Liverpool and his presence at the back has helped Klopp’s team rise to the top of the league table. Premier League.
Carragher praised the Dutch defender’s return to form, suggesting he appears to be back in the picture as the league’s best centre-backs after a dip in form this season.
“If Liverpool were to win the title this season, it would be even sweeter for Van Dijk given everything that has happened since the last one in 2020.”
Erling Haaland picked up the Player of the Season award for the 2022-23 season, and while Foden, Van Dijk and Rice are definitely three favorites to win the Player of the Season award, there are several other stars who could be up there. A cry for the current campaign.
The Norwegian is one of them. While he hasn’t matched his scoring exploits from last season, he tops the charts this season, having scored 18 goals in the league.
Ollie Watkins and Mohamed Salah follow him in the rankings with 16 and 15 goals respectively, with the Egyptian being another of the favorites to claim the award with 24 goals involved in the top flight this season.
Rodri is another player in the picture and recently broke a rather astonishing record to help his team remain unbeaten in the last 58 games he played for City.
For Arsenal, Bukayo Saka has been instrumental in their title fight and is another name that has been mentioned in conversations about who could win the award. Saka has 13 goals this season, eight assists and 202 touches in the opponent’s area.