Who Deserves the Crown? All Eight Premier League Player of the Season Nominees Ranked

This season's race for the Premier League player of the season honor is a genuinely compelling one. There is no obvious favorite.

In previous campaigns, the standout performer over the course of a season has sometimes been overwhelmingly apparent. Nobody was going to dispute the record-breaking version of Mohamed Salah last season, just as the likes of Luis Suárez (2013–14), Cristiano Ronaldo (2007–08) and Thierry Henry (2003–04) towered above their fellow nominees.

This time around, however, fans voting on the current list of nominees face a genuine dilemma. Premier League title contenders Arsenal are a well-balanced ensemble of talent without a single standout star, while Manchester City's talisman Erling Haaland has experienced a relative dip by his own extraordinary standards.

It should be noted that every nominee would be a worthy winner, though some would be more deserving than others.

Ranking Criteria

Who Should Win the 2025–26 Premier League Player of the Season Award?

8. Erling Haaland (Man City)

Appearances: 34
Goals: 26
Assists: 8

Erling Haaland has become a casualty of his own excellence. A return of 26 league goals is nothing to dismiss, yet it stands as his third-highest tally across four Premier League seasons. City's consistent top scorer is acutely aware of the expectations he has set himself: "People are more shocked when I don't score than when I score."

That sense of surprise must have faded during the festive stretch when Haaland managed just one non-Premier League goal across a 13-game run between Christmas Day and mid-April.

7. David Raya (Arsenal)

Appearances: 36
Wins: 24
Clean Sheets: 18

David Raya presents a genuine challenge when it comes to this award's criteria, which should be firmly rooted in Premier League performances. Arsenal's shot-stopper has delivered numerous standout moments in the Champions League, and his absence from the Carabao Cup final was a significant factor in Arteta's side's limp defeat at Wembley — yet his domestic consistency hasn't been quite as impressive as many might assume.

When examining the quality and volume of shots on target that Raya has faced in the Premier League this season, Opta estimate that an average goalkeeper would have conceded approximately 24 goals. In practice, Raya has let in 26.

A modern goalkeeper should be assessed on more than shot-stopping alone — and few are as composed with the ball at their feet as Raya — but falling below average in that department is difficult to overlook.

6. Morgan Gibbs-White (Nottingham Forest)

Appearances: 35
Goals: 13
Assists: 4

Were this an award covering the calendar year of 2026, Morgan Gibbs-White would rank considerably higher. Nottingham Forest's driving force was visibly unsettled by a summer of transfer speculation involving Tottenham Hotspur and never truly found his footing under Ange Postecoglou.

Sean Dyche and subsequently Vítor Pereira were the beneficiaries of Gibbs-White's finest form. Since the new year, the England hopeful has struck an unmatched nine non-penalty goals, propelling Forest to the seventh-best record across the entire division. Unfortunately, the full season must be taken into account.

5. Igor Thiago (Brentford)

Appearances: 36
Goals: 22
Assists: 1

This has been an extraordinary season for Brentford's Brazilian striker. After enduring two knee injuries that restricted him to just one Premier League start during his debut campaign in England, Igor Thiago has emerged as a prolific force.

With only two weeks of the club season remaining, the 24-year-old has been outscored across Europe's top five leagues only by Kylian Mbappé, Harry Kane and Erling Haaland — three of the planet's finest strikers plying their trade at undisputed superclubs that have never been referred to by their former managers as a "bus stop."

4. Gabriel (Arsenal)

Appearances: 30
Goals: 3
Clean Sheets: 16

Gabriel personifies Arsenal's greatest qualities this season: defensive solidity and set-piece authority. The intimidation he generates in the opposition penalty area ahead of every dead-ball situation is unmistakable, and he brings an equally commanding presence in his own box.

Arteta's powerhouse is the more conspicuous force within Arsenal's center-back partnership, yet could arguably be considered slightly below his partner William Saliba in terms of overall performance — a player who somehow received no nomination. The French half of the defensive pairing operates in a more understated manner, gliding across the pitch to extinguish danger before it develops.

3. Antoine Semenyo (Bournemouth/Man City)

Appearances: 35
Goals: 16
Assists: 4

Antoine Semenyo has delivered two spells worthy of individual recognition. The former Bournemouth attacker dazzled on the south coast during the first half of the campaign, directly contributing to 38% of all Premier League goals scored by the Cherries through goals or assists.

The prospect of joining Manchester City proved irresistible for Semenyo — and Bournemouth — midway through the season, and Pep Guardiola's squad quickly reaped the rewards of his signing. Slotting in as the fourth component of City's revamped attacking unit in 2026, Semenyo is the club's joint-leading scorer in the league since his arrival.

The one factor working against the two-footed dynamo is how well Bournemouth have performed in his absence. The Cherries have gone unbeaten in 15 games since their former talisman departed.

2. Bruno Fernandes (Man Utd)

Appearances: 33
Goals: 8
Assists: 19

The Football Writers' Association's player of the year could very well claim a second individual accolade. There is no question that Bruno Fernandes is Manchester United's finest performer — a status that has gone unchallenged since his arrival in February 2020 — and he is putting together one of the most statistically remarkable seasons in the competition's history.

The playmaker closing in on the all-time assist record is in a league of his own when it comes to chance creation: Fernandes has set up 124 shots this season, with Liverpool's Dominik Szoboszlai second on the list at just 68.

The one obstacle for Fernandes is that United as a collective have struggled to match his exceptional individual contributions until Michael Carrick's appointment in January.

1. Declan Rice (Arsenal)

Appearances: 35
Goals: 4
Assists: 5

The most influential player at the league leaders, Declan Rice would be a thoroughly deserving recipient.

Few players in the division are as complete as Arsenal's midfield cornerstone. Whether he is dictating play from deep, combining with Martín Zubimendi in a double pivot, or driving box-to-box during an intense passage of play, there is very little Rice cannot do — a fact he reinforces in virtually every appearance.

As Arteta enthused: "The good thing with Declan is he's so consistent, so reliable. He's always there."