Who is the Premier League player of the year? If you ask Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola, it’s Phil Foden. But while Foden would make my shortlist, he wouldn’t be my first choice.
For me, the award should go to the player who has had the biggest impact on their team. Without them in the side, they simply wouldn’t have got the results that they have.
On that basis, I’ve got a shortlist of five: Foden; his City teammate Rodri; Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk; and Arsenal pair Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka.
Erling Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne and Mohamed Salah are in a group just below who have had good seasons but not been quite as influential.
I’d put Ollie Watkins and Douglas Luiz of Aston Villa, Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold and Arsenal’s William Saliba and Gabriel in there too.
But my top five have been a cut above, with Foden again showing his match-winning qualities with two goals in the Manchester derby victory on Sunday.
Foden has rescued City at times this season, scoring a hat-trick when they trailed at Brentford and the winner against Bournemouth last week.
His level has been very high and has already brought him a career-best haul of 18 goals and 11 assists in all club competitions.
Colleague Rodri is the epitome of consistency and the driving force behind City. When he’s missing they lack something, hence they haven’t lost in the last 59 games he has played.
The Spanish midfielder shows game intelligence is second to none, and that’s all while playing in the most difficult area of the pitch.
Van Dijk has overcome the injury problems and crisis of confidence previously affecting him to get back to his very best and lead Liverpool’s title challenge.
Physical, influential, capable of scoring important goals and never hurried, the Dutchman makes it all look so easy and is a world class player.
Rice has provided the backbone that Arsenal had been missing, giving them a more solid platform from which to launch a concerted challenge to City and Liverpool.
He has brought stability, assuredness, aggression and excellent decision making that allows the likes of Martin Odegaard and Kai Havertz to go and play.
Finally, Saka has got playing on the right side of the final third down to a fine art, pulling opponents out of position like a chess grand master.
He sets himself incredibly high standards and, like Foden, has also generated the best returns of his young career, with 16 goals and 13 assists.
With 11 Premier League games still to go, it’s difficult to pick a winner – and all of these players are likely to have a big part to play in the run-in – but if the season were to stop now I would give it to Rice.
He has had to handle the expectation and pressure that came with his £100m fee but has proven himself to be the one player that Arsenal can’t do without.
Rice has been so good that Mikel Arteta’s side have been able to get away without having that 25-goal striker and yet still outscore the rest of the division. He has even weighed in with five himself, equalling his best tally.
Rodri and Van Dijk are close behind in my estimation, but Rice’s arrival at Arsenal has shown his impact and he only seems to be getting more influential as his impeccable first season at the club continues.
It’s always subjective, but in my experience you need a top central midfielder to win trophies. You can have skilful wide men like Foden and Saka but if you don’t have a player like Rice you will end up empty-handed.
Trevor Steven is a former England footballer who played at two World Cups and two European Championships. @TrevorSteven63.
