Sanchez (Arsenal) or Costa or Fabregas (Chelsea) or Aguero? Who would win the PFA award?
With more than a quarter of the season completed, certain stories from the Premier League are starting to set. Chelsea dominating the league, Southampton being the surprise package and big guns like Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham stuttering.
The performance of the top clubs is often not based on team-play but rather the exploits of one individual who makes the telling difference, that player is acknowledged by the PFA Players’ player of the year, it is an annual award presented to the best football player in the English League and is voted by the Professional Footballers’ Association, the players’ trade union. The current holder of the award is Liverpool’s Luis Suarez who became the first non-European to win the award and the 6th Liverpool player to do so.
There still is a big chunk of the season to go but there are quite a few contenders for the award at the current juncture.
The best of the best
Playing in the Premier League is probably the toughest for any professional footballer due to the physicality of the game played here and of course the whole aspect of “Can he do it on a cold windy night at Stoke?” The league is currently being dominated by Chelsea players and there should be no surprise when a couple of Chelsea players get named as the frontrunners for the award.
Chelsea’s Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas look like a match made in heaven, if there were any doubts about Costa cutting it in the Premier League, those have been completely dispelled and how. The Spaniard has hit the ground running and has scored an incredible 10 goals this season. Even with injury concerns, he looks like a proper center forward, something that Chelsea missed last season. Pace, power, movement and ruthless aggression, Costa is certainly having a great time in England.
The same could be said about Cesc Fabregas, snapped up by Jose Mourinho from Barcelona, the Spaniard has found his form back at Stamford Bridge notching up 9 assists and 1 goal in 11 games. He is the leading the Premier League’s assist charts and has been doing exceptionally well in a ruthless Chelsea team, allowed to do what he does best right behind the strikers, he has been helped by Costa’s finishing but credit should be given to Jose as well for giving Cesc the chance to impress.
Staying with the Blue themed teams, another striker on fire this season is Sergio Aguero, arguably the best finisher in the Premier League. Aguero had a bit of a start-stop season last time due to a few injuries but this season, with his injury concerns behind him he has been scoring goals for fun, notching up 12 goals in 11 games. He has been the player in form for Manchester City, without his goals City wouldn’t even be close to the top of the league.
Arsenal fans may be having a bit of a torrid time but there still is some joy with the form of Alexis Sanchez. A big money buy from Barcelona, Alexis has scored 8 goals and provided 2 assists in just 10 games for the Gunners. His style of play is suited to the team and Arsenal have had to rely on him massively for scoring, with Olivier Giroud injured till the new year and Danny Welbeck still adjusting to the team, Sanchez would need to score a few more goals.
The winner would be a Blue
The goal scoring exploits of Diego Costa and Sergio Aguero is the difference between the top teams and the rest of the league. Costa coming into a new league but adapting so well is great news for Chelsea fans, who are looking forward to winning a league which should have been theirs last season, with a fit Diego Costa scoring goals left, right and centre, the league could all but be sealed by March.
Sergio Aguero is playing on another level right now; he scored 4 against Tottenham a couple of weeks ago and saved Manchester City’s blushes against Queens Park Rangers last weekend, without his goals City’s season would be mired in mediocrity.
The winner of the PFA Player of the year on current form would be between these two strikers who have proved to be leagues above the rest, just which striker remains fit and continues this form would be exciting to see this season.