Liverpool striker Luis Suarez has been named the Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year just one week after being voted the Professional Footballers’ Association’s Player of the Year.
The Uruguayan striker beat out teammate Steven Gerrard and Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure for the honors.
Suarez has been sensational this season, leading the Premier League in goals with 30 and assists with 12. Previously the only Premier League player to top the goalscoring and assist charts in the same season was Andy Cole in 1993-94 when he scored 34 goals and collected 13 assists, although that mark was set during a 42-game season.
Making Suarez’ feat even more impressive is not only that it’s taken place in the a 38-game season but that the Uruguayan didn’t even set foot on the pitch until Liverpool’s sixth match of the season (the 1-3 win at Sunderland) due to his serving the remainder of a 10-match ban imposed for biting Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic last April.
With just two matches remaining – today at Crystal Palace and Sunday at home against Newcastle – Suarez’ incredible form puts him in prime position to make Premier League history.
He’s one goal away from tying the 31-goal record held by Alan Shearer (1995-96) and Cristiano Ronaldo (2007-08) for most goals in a 38-game Premier League season and he’s four away from matching the 34-goal record that Shearer (1994-95) and Cole (1993-94) hold for a 42-game Premier League season.
A single strike over the next week will also see Suarez snatch the record for the highest goals-to-games ratio of 0.91 held jointly by Cristiano Ronaldo (31 goals in 34 games in 2007–08) and Didier Drogba (29 goals in 32 games in 2009-10).
How his incredible season will end remains to be seen but as his coup of recent awards shows, Suarez is far and away the player of the season in the Premier League. So it has to be asked – are we witnessing the greatest ever individual season from a player in the Premier League?
Stay tuned.
