Peter Smith

Yeah, I think that's another factor, isn't it?

The way

Jamie touched on it as well but the way he's kind of respected by his teammates and and by opponents that that tells you he'll get a lot of votes in this and I wouldn't be surprised at all if he won it and I think yeah it's interesting that he's statistically you probably can't make the strongest case for him can you um but it's those intangibles of the leadership and the work rate and the mentality and I think that that mentality his kind of

constant desire for improvement he's always pushing them you know those those traits are just so invaluable to the side and I really don't think they would have sustained their winning run for so long without him kind of driving them on you know I don't think it's coincidence that he was injured for that loss at Watford and actually the subsequent FA Cup loss at Chelsea you know they they really missed him and he really is vital to them um and he's a great player as well as Gerald says you know he always used to get criticized for his sort of sideways passing didn't he but he's actually he

He's probably one of their most forward-thinking passers now.

One stat that I picked out is that only Trent Alexander-Arnold makes more passes into the final third per 90 minutes for Liverpool, which tells you a lot about how important he is to their attacking play, to their build-up play.

So, no, there are a lot of factors in his favour, I think, but obviously the big ones are the leadership and everything like that.

Who gets your... No, I'm sticking with Mane.

Mane for me.

So the listeners have the deciding vote, no?

Hello and welcome to the Sky Sports Football Weekend Preview.

Manchester United and Manchester City collide at Old Trafford on Sunday and we're taking an in-depth look at the Manchester derby on today's show.

I'm Peter Smith, the Sky Sports Football Features Editor.

I'm joined by features writer Nick Wright.

Hello.

And football journalist Charlotte Marsh.

How are you doing guys?

Yeah, one derby to another for Man Utd, isn't it?

After knocking Wayne Rooney's derby out of the FA Cup.

Nice line, yeah.