Andy Gray backs Luis Suarez for Player of the Year award

Andy Gray has backed Liverpool striker Luis Suarez for the PFA Player of the Year award.

The Uruguayan is up against stiff competition in the form of Gareth Bale and Robin van Persie for the honour of being named this season's best player.

Gray, who won the award in 1977 while at Aston Villa, believes that Suarez has been the most consistent player over the past year, especially being in a team that has gone through some difficult times.

He said that he would be compelled to vote for the 26-year-old if he had a say in the matter.

"If I was still playing, his name would be written down on my ballot form," Gray said on his show at talkSPORT. "Gareth Bale has been flavour of the month but has he been consistently that good this season? I don't know.

"Robin van Persie is obviously going through a bad spell at the moment. He is finding goals difficult to come by. It's one in nine, I think, so that's not great from him.

"But Suarez has been Suarez. He's been consistent from when he kicked off, all the way through, sometimes in a team that wasn't set up for him to have the best players around him. I couldn't not vote for Luis Suarez as my Player of the Year. What he's doing on a football pitch is sensational."

Suarez has scored 22 goals in 28 Premier League games this campaign.