Pogba the surprise inclusion in Man City, Liverpool-dominated PFA Team of the Year
Paul Pogba has been named in the PFA's Premier League Team of the Year alongside a highe representation from Manchester City and Liverpool.
Liverpool and Manchester City dominate the Professional Footballers' Association's (PFA) Premier League Team of the Year, while there is a surprise inclusion for Manchester United's Paul Pogba.
City and Liverpool dominate
City and Liverpool have been streets ahead of the rest in the Premier League this season and are in a two-way tussle for the title with three games to go. As such, 10 spots in the PFA's Team of the Year are taken up by City and Liverpool players, making it the first time in the history of the combined XI that only three teams have been represented.
Sterling-Mané in attack
Raheem Sterling and Virgil van Dijk – the two favourites for the individual prize – are present, with the former joined by team-mate Sergio Agüero and the Reds' Senegalese striker Sadio Mané up front. Sterling is enjoying another marvellous season having scored 17 times and set up another 10, while Van Dijk has helped transform Liverpool into title challengers.
Ederson ends David de Gea's four-year run as the goalkeeper to have polled most votes, while compatriot Fernandinho is in alongside Pogba, making it the first time two Brazilians have made it into the team in the same season.
Liverpool full-backs
Bernardo Silva and Aymeric Laporte complete the City contingent, while Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson – the first Scottish player to be included since Darren Fletcher in 2009-10 – slot into a Liverpool-heavy back four.
Pogba inclusions baffles pundits
The most notable inclusion is surely that of United's Pogba, however, with the Frenchman a regular target of criticism for a lack of consistency, particularly during the first half of the campaign under José Mourinho. He soon stepped his game up under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and has 13 goals and nine assists in 33 games, but a haul of seven penalties impacts his record significantly and he has been lambasted over recent weeks for a series of underwhelming performances.
No Hazard?
Pogba's inclusion did provoke a mixed reaction on social media with MOTD pundit Alan Shearer writing: "He didn't make mine!" while one observer pointed out that the Manchester United midfielder is the division's top-scoring midfielder with 13 goals, behind Agüero, Mohamed Salah, Aubameyang, Sadio Mané, Sterling, Jamie Vardy, Eden Hazard and Harry Kane although some commentators felt Hazard deserved to have been included in the XI.
PFA Premier League Team of the Year in full:
Ederson (Manchester City); Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool), Aymeric Laporte (Manchester City), Andy Robertson (Liverpool); Fernandinho (Manchester City), Paul Pogba (Manchester United), Bernardo Silva (Manchester City); Raheem Sterling (Manchester City), Sergio Agüero (Manchester City), Sadio Mané (Liverpool).