2022/23 Premier League Player of the Season nominees revealed
The Premier League has named seven players from five different clubs on the shortlist for the 2022/23 EA SPORTS FIFA Player of the Season award.
EPL Player of the Season, which has been sponsored by EA SPORTS since 2016, has been handed out annually since the 1994/95 campaign and is one of the big three end of season individual awards alongside PFA Players’ Player of the Year and FWA Footballer of the Year.
The newer PFA Vertu Motors Premier League Fans’ Player of the Year has also become a coveted accolade and is voted for exclusively by fans.
Manchester city and Arsenal unsurprisingly dominated the nominees for Premier League Player of the Season given how both have performed across 2022/23.
Erling Haaland is the obvious nominee. The City striker has scored 36 Premier League goals and counting in his debut year in English football since arriving from Borussia Dortmund last summer, a new single-season record since the competition began back in 1992.
He is joined by City teammate Kevin De Bruyne, who has made City sing and leads the Premier League with assists – he has laid on 16 goals for his teammates
For Arsenal, who led the Premier League until recently in search of their first title since 2004, Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka are each nominated.
Odegaard has taken his game to new levels this season and developed into a real leader since being hadnded the Arsenal captaincy last summer. Saka has similarly gone from strength to strength and has racked up an impressive 24 combined Premier League goals and assists.
Manchester united forward Marcus Rashford also finds himself among the nominees. The 25-year-old has come storming back to form after a poor 2021/22 campaign and could yet equal his best ever Premier League goal tally of 17 set in 2019/20 – he is only one short with three games to go.
Harry Kane is another back on top form in 2022/23. The Spurs talisman would have been a shoo-in for the Golden Boot in any other season, but for the explosive impact of Haaland, with his 27 goals an extremely impressive return in a Tottenham team that otherwise gone backwards.
Lastly, the consistency shown by Newcastle right-back Kieran Trippier has earned him a nod. The 32-year-old has started all 35 of the Magpies’ Premier League games so far and is a huge reason why they are on course for a first top four finish in 20 long years.
It is the first time since 2016/17 that no Liverpool players have been nominated. De Bruyne is the current holder following his win last season, while it has gone to Manchester City players in each of the last three years, such has been the club’s recent Premier League dominance.
Haaland, Odegaard and Saka are also eligible for the young player of award of the season and have been included on the eight-player shortlist. Meanwhile, Mikel Arteta, Pep Guardiola, Eddie Howe, Marco Silva, Unai Emery and Roberto De Zerbi are up for manager of the season.
Source: 90mins
