Mo Salah or Kevin De Bruyne – The Ideal PFA Candidate?

Following his nomination in the PFA Team of the Season, I wanted to get in touch regarding a landmark achievement from Kevin De Bruyne as he has become the first Premier League player to surpass 100 chances created this season.

De Bruyne has now created a total of 103 chances in the 2017/18 Premier League campaign. His achievement is even more impressive when put into context of those nearest to him in the number of chances created. As you can see from the below table, MesutÖzil has created the second most chances in the league, but still remains well behind Kevin De Bruyne, who has created 19 more chances than him. Additionally, De Bruyne has created 44 more chances that teammate David Silva, and 24 more chances than Christian Eriksen, both of whom were also voted in to the PFA Team of the Year yesterday. 

Paddy Power offered 4/9 odds on Kevin De Bruyne winning the PFA Player of the Year 2017-18 prize.However, Mohamed Salah of Liverpool eventually won the award. There are many other exciting betting offers available online. Bookies can check the latest coral betting offers for May 2018 on TheBookiesOffers and bet on their favorite teamsand matches. They can find offers like bet £10 get £30 by Coral or £50 free bet by Ladbrokes here. Bookies can also check the latest odds here and get free signup bonuses.

Furthermore, De Bruyne looks a certain favorite to be the first winner of the Premier League’s inaugural ‘playmaker of the year’ award, with 15 assists so far. This means he is only six assists away from breaking Thierry Henry’s record for most assists in a single Premier League season.  

Player	Chances Created	Assists	Total Crosses (no corners)	Goals
Kevin De Bruyne	103	15	144	7
MesutÖzil	84	8	34	4
CescFàbregas	80	4	46	1
Christian Eriksen	79	9	102	10
Eden Hazard	75	3	38	12

Meanwhile, Mo Salah has been a different monster all together in front of goal. After scoring his 30th goal of the 17/18 Premier League campaign against Bournemouth at the weekend, I wanted to get in touch with EA SPORTS data which reveals that Mohamed Salah is the first Premier League player this season to attain 250 touches in the opposition box. The Egyptian striker seems all but set to be awarded the player of the season award, and the below data showcases just how effective he has been.

Known for his lightning pace and dribbling skills, Salah has worked has an ability to work way into scoring positions in the opposition box, and this is clearly shown in the below table andattached goal map. Salah also boasts one of the highest shots-goals ratio of the top Premier League strikers, having scored with 23.4% of his shots on target. Of the top six goal scorers this season, only Jamie Vardy has a better shots-goals ratio (28.3%).

Player	Touches in Opposition Box	Goals	Assists	Total Shots	Shots-Goals Ratio
Mohamed Salah	250	30	9	128	23.44%
Harry Kane	200	25	2	165	15.15%
Sergio Agüero	171	21	6	94	22.34%
Raheem Sterling	235	17	8	78	21.79%
Jamie Vardy	142	17	1	60	28.33%
Roberto Firmino	177	15	7	77	19.48%