SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
With this year’s rollercoaster of a season nearing completion and Leicester looking like their fairytale will have a happy ending, the time to decide on the PFA Player of the Year will soon be upon us.
A six man shortlist will be revealed on Thursday 14th April with the winner announced later this month. Whilst Riyad Mahrez is heavily expected to win the award as the man who’s provided much of the magic to the Foxes’ rise, we spoke to Ed Nicholson, Head of UK Sportsbook and Marketing at Unibet about whether there could be an upset.
Here’s what Ed had to say on the matter…
This year’s Premier League has been all about Leicester, so it’s no surprise that the PFA Player of the Year Award betting centres around their two most influential players in Riyad Mahrez and Jamie Vardy – and it would be a huge shock if neither of them won this prestigious title, but then again, don’t count anything out…..we were laying Leicester at 5,000/1 to win the league in August!
Mahrez has simply been sensational this season and is 2/5 favourite with Unibet to lift the PFA Player of the Year Award. His sixteen goals and eleven assists is the best ‘dual’ return of any player in the league, while Jamie Vardy has 21 league goals to his name this term, which represents 36% of his clubs total goals and could see him win the Golden Boot.
If there is going to be an upset – and can it even be classed as an upset – it will be if Harry Kane beats the Leicester men to the punch.
Kane, who has scored a league high 22 goals this season, is a 10/1 chance with Unibet, and having taken the Young PFA Player of the Year Award last season, he is following on a strong trend in recent years.
Eden Hazard won the PFA Player of the Year Award title last season having taken the Young Player of the Year Award the year before, and this route has been taken on plenty of other occasions in the past; Cristiano Ronaldo completed the double in 2007/8, while Gareth Bale actually won both titles in 2012/13.
Another on the shortlist must be N’Golo Kante. He is unlikely to win the award, (he might not even be the second best Leicester player!) but the very fact that Foxes midfielder N’Golo Kanté is 20/1 fourth favourite clearly demonstrates what a season he has had.
Finally, West Ham’s Dimitri Payet may interest a few at a big price (Unibet go 25/1) as he has scored nine times and assisted on nine occasions this season, but he hasn’t been as dominant as Kane or the very ‘able’ Mahrez and Vardy this season!
