PFA 2016: Predicting Player of the Year Award Winners, Team of the Year Analysis

The Professional Footballers’ Association has already named its Team of the Year, but it will dole out individual awards in a ceremony at the Grosvenor House in London on Sunday.

Just like the team announced by the association, players from Premier League leaders Leicester City and second-placed Tottenham Hotspur naturally dominate the nominations.

Expect to hear one of Foxes creative winger Riyad Mahrez, striker Jamie Vardy or midfield destroyer N’Golo Kante announced as the main award winner. The only credible challenge is likely to come from free-scoring Tottenham striker Harry Kane.

Here’s a prediction of who will collect the gongs.

Player of the Year: Harry Kane

On the balance of the season, this one should maybe go to Mahrez. After all, no player can match the Algerian midfielder’s creative and goalscoring output. He’s scored 17 times in all competitions, as well as providing 11 assists in England’s top flight, according to ESPN FC.

The Foxes already appear convinced their unearthed gem will scoop the award; Leicester are reportedly even preparing to help Mahrez overcome some tricky travel arrangements to make it to the ceremony in time, per Laurie Whitwell of the Daily Mail.

So why bet against Mahrez?

Well, for one thing, this is a tournament year with England headed off to UEFA Euro 2016 in the summer. Don’t rule out voters wanting to increase the confidence of the nation’s best striker before the big event.

But the less cynical argument for favouring Kane to win the award is equally strong. It would have been easy to dismiss him as a proverbial “one-season wonder” after he shot to prominence in 2014-15.

But Spurs’ No. 10 has made such talk seem terribly foolish with a quite brilliant season. He’s hit 27 goals in all competitions, including 24 in the league, per WhoScored.com.

Kane recently addressed how the doubters at the start of the season have pushed him to great heights during the campaign, according to the Guardian’s Alan Smith:

There was a lot of talk at the start of the season. It fuelled the fire in my belly to want to prove them wrong and I’ve gone and done that. It doesn’t stop here for me. It’s not a case of: ‘OK, I’m happy where I am’. I want to go and get more goals, create my chances for the team and do my best for Tottenham Hotspur.

Kane has done exactly that to be the true catalyst for Tottenham’s unlikely title charge.

Manager Mauricio Pochettino has received a lot of credit for Spurs’ ascent. But the Argentinian has simply made Tottenham a tougher nut to crack defensively thanks to more discipline and better players at the back, along with greater work in midfield.

But it’s players such as Kane who win matches and decide title races. While Vardy has slowed somewhat in this calendar year, Tottenham’s main main has simply kicked on.

It’s no easy feat to top the 20-goal mark in England’s top flight two seasons in a row. …

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