Salah, De Bruyne among nominees for EPL’s Player of the Season

Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah and Manchester City playmaker Kevin De Bruyne were on Friday named among the eight nominees for the Premier League’s Player of the Season award.

Salah is the league’s top scorer with 22 goals, while he also has 13 assists. De Bruyne is fourth on the goal-scoring list with 5 and the Belgian international has seven assists.

Both Salah and De Bruyne have won the award before, in the 2017-18 and 2019-20 seasons respectively.

The other nominees include Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold, City’s Joao Cancelo, West Ham United’s Jarrod Bowen, Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka, Tottenham Hotspur’s Son Heung-min and Southampton’s James Ward-Prowse.

City defender Ruben Dias won the award last season.

Earlier this week,  De Bruyne scored four goals  in a 5-1 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers to put his team in a commanding position to retain the Premier League with two games remaining.

The Belgian put the game to bed with a hat-trick in a devastating 18-minute spell in the first half, before notching a fourth after the break as the away fans alternated between chanting “Kevin De Bruyne” and “Champions of England”.

The win leaves Pep Guardiola’s side top on 89 points, three ahead of Liverpool whom they also lead on goal difference, with the title now firmly in their sights.

A second consecutive Premier League title would assuage disappointment at their Champions League exit, after City fell in the semis and Liverpool reached the final.