Garth Crooks’ Team of the Week is often nonsense, but for some reason, it’s always a good read!
The BBC pundit only named one Red this time around, and quite understandably, it’s Coutinho who got his nod.
Our Brazilian put in a phenomenal display against Everton on Saturday, scoring a world-class goal and registering an assist to boot – re-finding the form that earned him a whopping contract extension in January.
Crooks boldly claimed that despite his lengthy lay-off due to injury and his quiet 2017, Coutinho is still one of his players of the year.
Here’s what he had to say:
It’s great to see Philippe Coutinho back in sparkling form again. Regular readers will know that it has been N’Golo Kante, Eden Hazard and Coutinho who are my three Premier League stars competing for the player of the season award.
Had it not been for his injury sustained earlier in the year, Coutinho might have canvassed enough votes to render himself the clear favourite to receive the prestigious award, as opposed to Kante or Hazard who have both had injury-free seasons.
With Sadio Mane and Adam Lallana both sadly injured, it’s imperative that Coutinho continues to shine.
Divock Origi is likely to enter the front-three alongside Coutinho and Roberto Firmino, and we hope the trio can cover for Mane’s absence.
All were brilliant at the weekend though which gives us hope ahead of the midweek tie against Bournemouth.