The nominees for the Premier League Player of the Season have been announced and we make a case for each player to win the award.
Trent Alexander-Arnold, Jarrod Bowen, João Cancelo, Kevin De Bruyne, Bukayo Saka, Mohamed Salah, Heung-min Son, and James Ward-Prowse are all in contention to take home the accolade which recognizes the league’s best player over the course of the season.
Half of the eight nominees are of English nationality, while title contenders Manchester City and Liverpool each have two players nominated. The winner will be announced shortly after the final weekend of the season.
Premier League Player of the Season nominees:
Trent Alexander-Arnold
The Liverpool right-back has returned to his brilliant best after enduring the worst season of his career in the 2020/21 campaign. Alexander-Arnold has reasserted himself as a credible force in both attacking and defending capacities and he has registered 12 assists in the league, second only to teammate Salah (13).
Throughout the current season Alexander-Arnold has created 18 big chances, the joint-most in the Premier League, and he averages 6.4 accurate long balls per game as well as 2,7 key passes per game. This is the second time in three seasons Alexander-Arnold has been in the mix for the POTS award.
Jarrod Bowen
Bowen has been a revelation for West Ham in their fight to retain European football for next season, and the 25-year-old winger subsequently earns a maiden shout as Player of the Season. Bowen has recorded 12 goals and 10 assists, the second-most goal involvements of all English players in the league, including a brace in the Hammers’ most recent outing against defending PL champions Man City.
Bowen is overdue a call-up to the England national team and is being tipped to earn his first cap for the Three Lions during their four UEFA Nations League meetings next month.
Bowen’s on fire.
— West Ham United (@WestHam) May 15, 2022
CC: Gareth Southgate pic.twitter.com/ijnodw2fve
João Cancelo
Similarly to Alexander-Arnold at Liverpool, Cancelo has shown his importance at both ends of the pitch with Man City looking to secure a fourth league title in five years. Operating mainly down the left flank, Cancelo has emerged as one of Pep Guardiola’s most potent and prominent components.
Cancelo has produced seven assists in the league and the versatile full-back ranks inside the top five outfield players for minutes played in the English top-flight this term. The Portuguese international has also kept 18 clean sheets in the league, playing the full 90 minutes on all occasions.
Kevin De Bruyne
De Bruyne was named PL POTS two seasons back and Man City’s superstar Belgian playmaker now seeks to be on the receiving end of the prize for a second time. De Bruyne continues to show his class and influential nature, especially in the bigger fixtures, and he has so far been responsible for 15 goals and seven assists in 2021/22. On average, De Bruyne makes 2.8 key passes per game.
De Bruyne receives a POTS nomination for the third year running, however only three players have claimed the accolade on more than one occasion. City sealing the league title would stand De Bruyne his best chance at wrapping up an elusive second POTS crown.
Bukayo Saka
Perhaps Arsenal’s hottest academy prospect for a decade, Saka has made his presence known in the Gunners’ senior fold. At 20 years of age Saka has netted 11 goals and given six assists this campaign, almost double than he managed in all of his previous three PL seasons combined.
Saka has done extremely well to bounce back after failing to convert the decisive penalty for England in the UEFA Euro final last summer, and the Arsenal youngster looks as if he will only improve further in the coming years. Saka and Alexander-Arnold have also been nominated for the Young Player of the Season.
Mohamed Salah
Salah is the clear front-runner to capture the POTS award and the Liverpool ace is also on course to become a three-time winner of the PL Golden Boot. Salah is one goal clear of Spurs’ Son after the Egyptian forward narrowly missed out last year when Harry Kane walked away as the league’s top scorer.
The fact that Liverpool have two league matches would naturally allow for Salah to place some breathing room between himself and Son in the race for the Golden Boot, and to reaffirm himself as the favourite to be named Premier League POTS for a second time. Unfortunately for Salah, however, he has been ruled out of the Reds’ trip to Southampton with a groin injury sustained in the FA Cup final against Chelsea.
Salah is also in line to scoop the Playmaker of the Season award having notched a league-high 13 assists, one more than club teammate and fellow POTS nominee Alexander-Arnold.
Heung-min Son
Tottenham’s star has scored 21 times and all of them have been non-penalty goals. Son sits behind Golden Boot leader Salah by just a solitary goal and a multi-goal haul in Spurs’ final league task versus Norwich City could see the South Korean attacker usurp Salah to the throne for top scorer.
Son together with the likes of Salah and De Bruyne are all likely to be nominated for the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) Player of the Year with the nominees set to be announced early June.
21 – Son Heung-min has scored 21 non-penalty goals in the Premier League this season, with only Harry Kane ever netting more goals, excluding penalties, in a single season in the competition for Spurs (28 in 2017-18 and 24 in 2016-17). Volume. pic.twitter.com/46s5vqqSP9
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) May 12, 2022
James Ward-Prowse
Eyebrows have been raised towards the inclusion of the Southampton skipper in the POTS nominations. Whilst the Saints have undergone an utterly underwhelming season Ward-Prowse has been one of the team’s few shining lights, playing a hand in more than one-third of the team’s 41 league goals.
Ward-Prowse has scored nine goals, his best return in ten seasons playing Premier League football, with four of those strikes coming from trademark direct free-kicks. Southampton need one point from their final two games to mathematically ensure their safety from relegation.
Two goalkeepers are in the running to claim the Golden Glove for the most clean sheets kept throughout the season. Man City goalie Ederson and Liverpool’s Alisson each have 20 shutouts albeit the Reds have a game in hand over City, which could pave the way for Alisson to pip his countryman and collect the Golden Glove.
