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Virgil van Dijk has been nominated for the Premier League Player of the Season award.

Liverpool, Aston Villa, Chelsea and Newcastle all have a player in the running, while Manchester City and Arsenal have two apiece.

Manchester City's Phil Foden is expected to take home the award, after an excellent individual campaign that looks as though it will spearhead his side to a fourth successive Premier League title.



The inclusion of Van Dijk, meanwhile, will raise one or two eyebrows.

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Nonetheless, it's an admirable selection.

The season is 38 games long, and for most of them, Van Dijk was a central figure as Liverpool sustained a legitimate title challenge.

The recent defensive slump does not take away from his previous performances.

As recently as the start of March, when the quadruple dream was still on, we mentioned that Van Dijk could even be an outside contender in the Ballon d'Or discussion if Liverpool went on to achieve its season goals.

Meanwhile, Mohamed Salah would have obviously liked to make the list; he has significantly more goal contributions than Alexander Isak, who did make the cut, so that will rankle.

Here is the list of nominees in full:

Phil Foden Erling Haaland Declan Rice

Martin Ødegaard

Alexander Isak

Cole Palmer

Ollie Watkins

Virgil van Dijk

Liverpool.com says: There's no hiding from the fact that Van Dijk is a surprise inclusion on the list, but it's not an outrageous choice.
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