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PFA Player of the Year odds: Back Mohamed Salah to win gong
Football betting tips: PFA Player of the Year
2pts Mohamed Salah to win PFA Player of the Year at 12/1 (BetVictor)
It's been a dream start to the season for Liverpool. Three wins, three clean sheets, no sign of the 'David Moyes' effect, described in the dictionary as 'The decline of a great team following the parting of ways with a historically brilliant and successful manager'.
Arne Slot has certainly come in and impressed, but one player in particular has shone throughout - MOHAMED SALAH.
The 'Egyptian King' looks hungry, he looks leaner and he has looked devastating in the opening throes of the season.
Salah seems to be enjoying life under a new coach, with his relationship with Jurgen Klopp in the headlines a few times last season after some public spats, and he has certainly bought into Slot's system.
He's getting the rewards too. Salah has scored in all three league games and also provided three assists.
At 12/1, he looks a cracking bet to WIN THE PFA PLAYER OF THE YEAR AWARD for a third time, something no one has done before.
Mark Hughes, Alan Shearer, Thierry Henry, Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Kevin De Bruyne are the only other players to have won the award twice, so Salah is already in esteemed company, and I think there is a very good chance of him becoming the first to bag a hat-trick.
When he won the gong in 17/18, he had a stellar goalscoring campaign, equaling the then-Premier League single-season scoring record by plundering 32 goals, though Liverpool did end the season trophy-less.
It was a different story in 21/22, with the Reds winning both domestic cups, but Salah displayed both his ruthlessness and selflessness, sharing the Golden Boot with Heung-min Son after firing 23 league goals and also providing a league-high 13 assists.
Given the way he's started the campaign, it wouldn't be a surprise to see the Egyptian near the top of both charts, but it could well be the assisting and his overall dynamism that gives him an edge over the league's best goalscorer, Erling Haaland.
The Norwegian is the favourite to win the PFA award, and has started the season in red-hot form himself by netting seven times in three games, and if he were to break his own single-season scoring record it's hard to argue against him winning this award.
But Salah has a great chance given his all-action nature, and playing in a Liverpool team who will score plenty of goals and contend on all fronts gives him a realistic opportunity of replicating - or even bettering - his stat line in 21/22.
And then there's the potential sentimental angle. Salah is in the final year of his Liverpool contract so could depart next summer, and he was very coy about his future after the win over Manchester United. He said: “Nobody in the club talked to me yet about contracts so I was just like, ‘OK, I play my last season and see at the end of the season’.”
We are talking about a Premier League legend here, one who will be remembered by future generations as one of the best to ever do it. If he continues in the same manner we have seen already, it's fair to say he would be going out with a bang, and in doing so would have a cracking chance of winning the award for a third time.
I'd make him the second favourite behind only Haaland, so he looks value at 12/1, even at this early stage. It is also worth mentioning that nine of the last 15 winners of the award weren't in the team that won the Premier League title that season.
Odds correct at 1600 BST (02/09/24)
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