The nominees for the Premier League’s end-of-season awards were announced on Friday.Fans have the chance to vote for the winners in all three categories: the Player of the Year, Young Player of the Season and Manager of the Year.Most of the usual suspects appear in each category, although eyebrows have been raised after Anthony Martial and Jack Grealish (both 25 this year) were nominated for the Young Player of the Season accolade.Fans’ votes will represent 10 per cent of the total votes, with a ‘Premier League panel’ mainly responsible for deciding the winners in each category.Ryan Giggs, Alan Shearer and Sir Kenny Dalglish are among a host of high-profile stars on the panel.We thought we’d rank the nominees in order for each category based purely on our own opinion.Yours may differ completely - but that’s fine! Football is, after all, a game of opinions. It would be boring if we all had the same views, wouldn’t it?Premier League Young Player of the Year
8. Mason Mount
7. Mason Greenwood
6. Dean Henderson
5. Jack Grealish
4. Christian Pulisic
3. Anthony Martial
2. Marcus Rashford
1. Trent Alexander-Arnold
Trent Alexander-Arnold, Liverpool’s world-class right-back, is surely nailed on to win the Young Player of the Year award.
Four goals and 15 assists is a remarkable return for a full-back - particularly a full-back aged 21 - and he thoroughly deserved to end the campaign with a Premier League winners’ medal.
Anthony Martial scored 17 goals and provided nine assists in the Premier League this season, so he takes second spot. The Frenchman’s teammate Marcus Rashford has almost identical statistics, but one fewer assist.
Christian Pulisic has looked the bee's knees in recent weeks and should cement his status as one of the Premier League’s best players next term, while Jack Grealish’s performances helped keep Aston Villa in the top-flight.
Sheffield United goalkeeper Dean Henderson has impressed throughout the campaign, Manchester United starlet Mason Greenwood looks a world-beater in the making, while Mason Mount weighed in with seven goals and six assists for Chelsea.
Player of the Season
7. Nick Pope
6. Danny Ings
5. Sadio Mane
4. Jamie Vardy
3. Trent Alexander-Arnold
2. Jordan Henderson
1. Kevin De Bruyne
Jordan Henderson pipped Kevin De Bruyne to the Football Writers’ Association’s Footballer of the Year last month, but the Manchester City star has been the best individual player in the Premier League this term.
Thirteen goals and 23 assists is a stunning return even by the Belgian’s lofty standards and it’ll be a travesty if he fails to pick up at least one individual award.
Jamie Vardy won the Premier League Golden Boot with Leicester City but it’s hard to put him above those players in our top three.
The same applies to Sadio Mane, Danny Ings and Nick Pope. All have enjoyed excellent campaigns but they haven’t outperformed Alexander-Arnold, Henderson or De Bruyne.
Manager of the Season
4. Brendan Rodgers
3. Frank Lampard
2. Chris Wilder
1. Jurgen Klopp
This is a pretty straight-forward one. Jurgen Klopp led Liverpool to their first league title since 1990 - and for that reason, he deserves the Manager of the Season award.
Chris Wilder did an excellent job with Sheffield United, who finished ninth in the table, but it would feel wrong to give him this individual accolade over Klopp.
Frank Lampard did extremely well to get Chelsea into the top four considering this was his first season at Stamford Bridge, he lost the club’s best player in Eden Hazard last summer and was unable to sign a replacement due to a transfer ban.
Had Leicester finished inside the top four, Brendan Rodgers would stand more of a chance of winning the award.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who led Manchester United to third place, would perhaps have been more deserving of a nomination.
Fans can also vote for their Budweiser Premier League Goal of the Season.
Watch the contenders here…
The winner *has* to be Son Heung-min for his outstanding solo goal for Tottenham against Burnley back in December?
That was different class.
An honourable mention goes to Bruno Fernandes for finishing off a wonderful Manchester United team goal against Brighton in June.