Chelsea’s dominance for long periods of the season earned them two of the six PFA Player of the Year nominees: Eden Hazard and N’Golo Kante. One of them is sure to win, and the Manchester United game made clear who it should be.
The strongest argument for Eden Hazard is the way he contributes to the offense. Hazard on form is a beautiful thing to witness as he glides around defenders to put in the perfect pass or shot. The past few months have had Hazard out-performing himself again and again. If his form continued at that level he would be the clear winner.
The argument for N’Golo Kante is less sexy. He puts in the hard, defensive work that often goes unnoticed months after the fact. Kante’s addition to the midfield has been a steal for Chelsea. He is constantly working, looking to win back the ball back for his team. Kante has single-handedly stopped countless attacks this season.
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The loss to Manchester United put a large dent into the Chelsea ego and aura. Even so, Kante or Hazard will be Player of the Year. And now it is clear, after the United match, that Kante just won himself the award.
One game, of course, does not determine the season. Nor does it determine how a player did that season. But if it was 50/50 between Kante and Hazard before, the desire shown when things were going from bad to worse must tip the scale towards the Frenchman.
Hazard is supposed to be the link between the midfield and the final end product of the goal. He does this by dribbling and passing. But he did not do this against United. Hazard had zero shots, zero successful dribbles, and just one key pass.
That is, frankly, shockingly abysmal for a player of Hazard’s quality. Hazard, like all but one player, gave up long before the final whistle. He has made himself into something of a big-game player this season, but in this big game he was absent and lacking.
The one player who did not give up before the final whistle, who fought to the end: N’Golo Kante. Of the starters, he had the best passing percentage of anyone on the field. He had five tackles and seven interceptions (the most of any player).
Even when Chelsea were down 2-0, Kante was still charging around the pitch to win the ball ad pull his squad back into it. While it was clear no one else cared anymore, it was equally clear Kante very much did not want to lose.
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Where Eden Hazard was absent, N’Golo Kante was everywhere. Hazard is still a very good player, but in the worst game of the season he did not stand up to be counted. Chelsea’s tiny midfield Frenchman did, proving that if anyone should be the player of the year, it should be Kante.