My player of the year so far...

Last season, Riyad Mahrez was awarded PFA Player of the Year after being one of Leicester's main forces in winning the Premier league title, helping contribute with 17 goals and 11 assists. But this season Mahrez and Leicester are struggling to replicate last season's performance, as Leicester sit 17th in the table, 1 point from the relegation zone. Mahrez only boasting 3 goals and 2 assists.

This season has seen strikers like Lukaku and Diego Costa, wingers like Sanchez and Hazard, midfielders like Alli and Sigurdsson all finding serious form. Although, for me, the PFA Player of the Year so far has to be Chelsea's N'Golo Kanté. After joining Chelsea from the Champions for a transfer fee of around £29.2 million he has been one of the main driving forces in Chelsea's push for a 5th Premier League title. The blues lead 2nd place Spurs by 10 points. But with only 1 goal and 0 assists this season why does he deserve it?

Kanté's main reason for the award is for his defensive duties in Chelsea's squad. Something his old team Leicester has been struggling with. This season Kanté has recorded 86 tackles with a 65% success rate. One of the most interesting stats is his 193 defensive recoveries. When he loses the ball, or makes a mistake he isn't a player who will jog back or complain to his team mates. He will chase that ball until he or a teammate recovers it - this is not a thing a lot of teams have at their disposal. He has a positive record when dueling with other players winning 53.9% of them. In the air he has won 18 of 58 aerial battles which looks bad, but it isn't when your're 5 foot 6.

In Chelsea's main formation he sits with Matić. When Chelsea attacks Matić sits in front of the back 3 and Kanté fills the gap that between the attack and Matić. This means that Hazard, Costa and Pedro can all push up the pitch freely because Kanté is sitting back usually about 10 yards from the box to stop a counter attack. If they get past Kanté then there is Matić and the back 3 the opposing team have to get through. There is usually time for Kanté to get back and help defend.

These are just some of the reason's why I think he should win it. The only way I don't see him winning it is if Chelsea do not win the title, which at the minute they look the opposite. A 1-1 draw to Burnley will not phase the team, or Kanté one bit.