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Virgil van Dijk to battle ONE Liverpool team mate for PFA Player of the Year - pundit
LIVERPOOL stars Virgil van Dijk and Sadio Mane are set to battle it out for the PFA Player of the Year award.
That is the opinion of Sky Sports pundit and former Crystal Palace star Clinton Morrison.
Van Dijk has had a sensational season in defence for title-chasing Liverpool.
The Dutchman has started all 30 of the Reds’ Premier League games so far.
But Mane has had a fine campaign himself, scoring 16 league goals.
I think Van Dijk has been outstanding but Mane’s been brilliant
The Senegal international also netted a brace in the 3-1 Champions League last-16 second leg win over Bayern Munich on Wednesday.
Morrison has been seriously impressed with Mane but reckons Van Dijk may just pip him to the end-of-season gong.
“Yeah I think he’s a contender,” Morrison said of Mane.
“Obviously I think Van Dijk has been outstanding but Mane’s been brilliant.
“He is more natural in front of goal [now].
“I’ve looked at him a lot this season and the easier chances, sometimes he snatches at them and misses them.
“And when he gets the difficult chances, he puts them away.
“But he is in a rich vein of form, you ask any defender, they will not like to play against Sadio Mane.
“He can go either way, inside, outside and nine times out of 10 he delivers.
“His assists are up there as well, he contributes a lot of assists and he scores a lot of goals.
“He’s got a great chance of being up there for the awards.
“But I just think the season Van Dijk has had, he might just win it.”
Liverpool will look to return to the top of the Premier League table with a win over Fulham on Sunday.