Firstly, we take a look at the Daily Mail’s article on who should be crowned as Player of the Year.
Of course, there’s one name in the mix with very good reasoning to be put forward for the award – Kevin De Bruyne. Who else?!
Kieran Gill writes: “De Bruyne’s ability to spot passes that others have not has been a particular highlight of this season.
“It has led to an almost weekly separate segment on Match of the Day. Take last weekend, for example. De Bruyne supplied a hat-trick of assists for Sergio Aguero in their 5-1 embarrassment of Leicester at the Etihad Stadium, including one that defied belief.
“Yet as Pep Guardiola later pointed out, this was not just one match when the midfielder felt in the mood. This is something the 26-year-old has been pulling off in the Premier League all season.
“The Belgian knows where the likes of Aguero want the ball and he puts it there, even when the pass does not appear on. De Bruyne has created 84 chances in 2017-18 – the most in the top flight and 40 more than Salah.
“In terms of assists, he has 14, twice as many as his Liverpool competitor. As Harry Kane has discovered, winning Player of the Year is not determined by total goals scored.
“The England striker finished as top scorer in 2015-16 and 2016-17, yet is still empty-handed.
“Consistency is key and De Bruyne has stood out as City’s creative spark while executing it all almost effortlessly.
“There is something else, too. In the last three seasons, the team that won the title also saw their stand-out star win PFA Player of the Year – N’Golo Kante with Chelsea, Riyad Mahrez with Leicester, and Eden Hazard with Chelsea.
“The ball is in De Bruyne’s court.”
While there isn’t a game for us this weekend, we will be travelling to Wigan on Monday for our fifth round FA Cup clash. And next, we looks at predictions for our next game.
Charlie Nicholas predicts a strong victory for us at the DW Stadium. He writes for Sky Sports: “Wigan will have the great memories to motivate them here from their FA Cup win.
“However, I think this will be another canter for Pep Guardiola’s men, with Leroy Sane back in the mix, perhaps resting Sergio Aguero.
“With no midweek game it should be a pretty strong City side so I can only see a third successive defeat for Wigan and City to move another step closer to the quadruple.”
The pundit predicts: 0-3 with Sane to score first. Let’s hope that prediction becomes reality in a few days time!
READ: Which TV channel is Wigan v City on?
WATCH: City 4-1 Burnley FA Cup highlights
Finally, we look at an alternative Premier League table as the Express have mocked up what the standings would look like if only away matches counted. Good news – we are still top!
Out of our 13 away games, we have secured 10 wins, two draws and just one loss which sees 32 of our 72 points sealed on away games alone.
This impressive number keeps us in the number one position, while Liverpool (27) would be second, Chelsea (24) would be third and Manchester United (24) would be fourth on goal difference.
That’s all for your media round-up today, but we will be back tomorrow with the latest news from the back pages!
