Is favourite Bruno Fernandes overrated?

They’ve received 20 matches in a row, they’re 1.011/100 on the Exchange to win the Premier League title and, in accordance with a latest episode of the Football…Only Bettor podcast, their defensive efficiency is “ridiculous”.

And but, in accordance with the markets on the Sportsbook and the Change, Manchester Metropolis should not have a participant who deserves to win the PFA Player of the Year award.

As an alternative, the even-odds favorite Bruno Fernandes plies his commerce throughout city for the workforce that sits seven factors adrift of Metropolis within the desk.

Make no mistake, Fernandes has been a revelation for Manchester United, simply as he was final time period, scoring 15 objectives within the league – second solely to Mo Salah within the Golden Boot race – and has 10 assists.

It is controversial that, with out Fernandes, United would not be within the high 4. However runners-up is one of the best the Crimson Devils can hope for this season.

So does Fernandes actually should be to this point forward of the likes of Metropolis’s Ilkay Gundogan 5/1, Ruben Dias 8/1 and Kevin de Bruyne 12/1 within the betting?

To start with, it is a mistake to assume the winner should play for the champions. After all, gamers vote lengthy earlier than the top of the season when the champions are but to be topped, in order that stands to purpose. In 2020/21 a shortlist might be introduced in April and the winner revealed on the finish of the season in Could.

However even in seasons the place there was a runaway league chief, the winner has typically been discovered away from the champions’ squad.

Final yr, when Liverpool have been cruising to the title, De Bruyne received participant of the yr. The earlier season, when the race was tighter, it went to Virgil van Dijk his performances for runners-up Liverpool. Mo Salah received the yr earlier than that when the Reds completed fourth.

Nonetheless, the way in which that Metropolis have swept apart opponents from mid-December onwards will certainly be in gamers’ minds after they vote this yr. For the time being, the sky is the restrict for the Blues and Pep Guardiola’s side are 8/1 to win an unprecedented quadruple.

Dias, particularly, has had a transformative affect. Metropolis have conceded a mere 16 objectives within the league and, whereas their attacking play hasn’t hit fairly the identical heights as in earlier title-winning campaigns, you possibly can argue that it hasn’t wanted to.

The Portuguese centre-back has had an analogous affect to Van Dijk in his first full season at Liverpool. That Dias has achieved this in his debut season in English soccer, at simply 23, means he ought to be in with a severe probability of successful the award.

He is been extra constant than Fernandes who has a behavior of going lacking in massive video games. Solely two defenders have received this century (the opposite was John Terry in ’05) so it is true that the participant of yr award is biased in the direction of attackers.

However at 8/1 Dias seems like worth so as to add the English sport’s highest particular person honour to the medals he’ll be selecting up between now and the top of the season.