The Premier League season is about to enter the home straight.
Teams have just eight games remaining, with the exception of first place Chelsea and bottom of the table Leicester who have a game in hand against each other, and no European or international football to distract, the season run-in begins this weekend
It also won’t be long before the player of the year awards are handed out, and, according to football statistical website whoscored.com, Eden Hazard is the prime contender for the accolade.
The website measures performance based on a number of factors, such as number of goals scored, assists, pass completion rate, disciplinary record and ‘man of the match’ awards, giving the player a rating out of 10.
Chelsea winger Hazard is the only player to average more than eight out of 10 this season, ahead of Arsenal forward Alexis Sanchez and team-mate Cesc Fabregas.
No shock there, but fans may be surprised to see players such as Crystal Palace’s Mile Jedinak, and Francis Coquelin of Arsenal, ranked ahead of the highly rated Chelsea midfielder Nemanja Matic. Coquelin only returned to Arsenal from a loan spell with Charlton in December.
However, the bigger surprise comes when looking at the players ranked from 11-20. There’s no sign of Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney, or Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho, but there’s Victor Moses in eleventh place.
The highest rated United player is Phil Jones, and Liverpool’s Raheem Sterling is twentieth. Interestingly, Harry Kane might not be the shoe-in one would imagine for the young player of the year award, and Yaya Toure maybe hasn’t been as sluggish as his demeanour sometimes suggests.
The top twenty may change between now and the end of the season, but Victor Moses looks to have secured his spot. Maybe Jose Mourinho might even take the on-loan Chelsea winger back to Stamford Bridge next season.
The highest-rated Irish player is Richard Dunne. The QPR defender, currently sidelined with injury, is ranked thirty-sixth.
Here’s the top ten performing Irish players in the Premier League, according to whoscored:
