Midfield
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Over the years it has been goalscorers who pick up all the major end-of-season awards but the Premier League saw a marked change this season. Chelsea’s livewire in midfield N’Golo Kante picked up various Player of the Year awards and underlined how important his role has been in the Blues’ league title win.
Tactics have evolved in such a way that possession football has now given way to winning the ball back and that is a role where Kante excelled. In all, he made 126 tackles and 84 appearances for Conte’s side.
Alongside him is yet another player who kept the ball ticking without really showing how tough it was to keep the ball moving. Real Madrid’s Toni Kroos plays with a seemingly effortless swagger in a La Liga midfield that is akin to a pressure cooker.
How else can you justify creating 80 chances in the league with 12 assists to his name? The German midfield machine also has a pass accuracy of over 92% and is instrumental when it comes to set pieces where Sergio Ramos invariably scores a late equaliser or winner.
In the central attacking midfielder role is a player who made his debut in the top flight of a major league this season. RB Leipzig turned heads in the Bundesliga when the newly-promoted team finished second behind Bayern Munich and ahead of Borussia Dortmund. And at the heart of the team was Swedish midfielder, Emil Forsberg.
Another player who excels at set pieces and averaging more than two dribbles per game, Forsberg scored eight goals to go with his 19 assists (the highest in Europe this season). And remember, the Bundesliga has only 34 games so he may well have crossed the 20-assist mark this season in a 38-game league season.
