Mohamed Salah and Cristiano Ronaldo lead betting for PFA Player of the Season

Mohamed Salah danced through the Manchester City defence to score a brilliant goal at Anfield on Sunday and the Liverpool star has also sashayed his way to the top of Coral's PFA Player of the Year betting.

The returns of Cristiano Ronaldo and Romelu Lukaku to the Premier League shunted Salah down the pecking order in the Golden Boot market but he has maintained his exceptional standards with six goals and three assists in his first seven league appearances of 2021-22.

The Egyptian's stunning run and finish lit up Sunday's 2-2 draw with champions City and Coral have cut him to 4-1 favourite for the PFA award which he won in 2017-18, his first season at Liverpool.

The battle to be named player of the season looks a high-class heat and Manchester United superstar Ronaldo is still the 7-2 market leader with Hills, who make Salah a 6-1 shot.

Ronaldo, who has scored five goals in six appearances since returning to Old Trafford, picked up the award in 2006-07 and 2007-08.

He is one of only three players to have been PFA Player of the Season in consecutive seasons, along with Arsenal legend Thierry Henry and Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne, who is 8-1 with Hills to complete an unprecedented hat-trick this term.

De Bruyne was also on the scoresheet on Sunday, firing in City's second equaliser, and he is clearly held in the highest esteem by his fellow professionals.

The Belgian playmaker was the PFA's choice in 2019-20, despite the fact that City finished 18 points behind champions Liverpool, and last season he saw off shortlisted rivals Bruno Fernandes, Harry Kane, Ruben Dias, Ilkay Gundogan and Phil Foden.

Manchester City provided four of last term's shortlist and their summer signing Jack Grealish is 12-1 to be player of the season in his first campaign at the Etihad Stadium.

United's Fernandes started the league season with a hat-trick against Leeds and is also 12-1. Chelsea striker Lukaku, who made the 2016-17 PFA Team of the Year while at Everton, is a general 7-1 chance.

Salah has made a superb start to the season, also scoring three times in Liverpool's Champions League wins over Milan and Porto, but City are odds-on to retain the Premier League title so it would be dangerous to ignore De Bruyne's claims.

He has been eased back into action after Euro 2020 and the 1-0 win at Chelsea and the draw at Anfield were his first two Premier League starts of the season. Between those fixtures De Bruyne played 90 minutes against Paris St-Germain in the Champions League, demonstrating both his return to full fitness and his significance to Pep Guardiola's side.

City teammate Foden also made his first two league starts at Stamford Bridge and Anfield, where he scored a crisp goal and was the only player to have more than one shot on target in the match.

The England forward made the PFA shortlist last season after establishing himself as a key player during City's title campaign and run to the Champions League final so he could be worth a small bet at odds ranging from 25-1 to 33-1.

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