Nemanja Vidic is evens to be named PFA Player of the Year

Serbian defender’s recent form sees him installed as favourite

Paddy Power have installed defender Nemanja Vidic as the evens favourite to win the PFA Player of the Year award after being an ever-present in Manchester United’s run of thirteen straight clean sheets.

Counting against him is the fact that a defender has triumphed just once in the last fifteen years. If the voting took place a month ago, as Micah Richards confirmed was the case last season, it is also possible that he wouldn’t have received as many mentions as he would if votes were cast now.

Steven Gerrard is second favourite at 7/2, which seems surprising as the general consensus has been that Xabi Alonso has been Liverpool’s standout performer for most of the season, with current holder Cristiano Ronaldo close behind at 5/1 despite not matching last season’s form.

The player that has impressed chickendinner this season - Stephen Ireland - is a big outsider at 50/1, which is unsurprising as ten years have passed since a player from outside the Big Four last triumphed.

Key trends:
Englishmen rarely win - foreigners have won eight of the last eleven
The last nine winners have all played for one of the Big Four
Manchester United players have won five of the last nine winners
The champions have provided the winner in four of the last five seasons
John Terry (2004-05) is the only defender to have won in the last 15 years
Nobody has won three in a row - bad news for Cristiano Ronaldo

Posted: February 12th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn |