Manchester United midfielder Ander Herrera has expressed his belief that Chelsea winger Eden Hazard has been the best player in the Premier League this season.
Hazard was one of the nominees for the PFA Player of the Year award last weekend, alongside Herrera's teammate Zlatan Ibrahimovic, but it was another Chelsea player - N'Golo Kante - who scooped the prize.
However, Herrera revealed that he would have given it to the Belgian, despite having recently nullified his impact when carrying out a diligent man-marking job during United's 2-0 win over the league leaders at Old Trafford.
"Hazard, for me, has been the best player of the season so far. It was not a very easy job for me but I think I did it right," he told reporters.
"Also the team was very compact so that made it more easy for me. But now I know everyone is talking about it, but I want to forget it. I want to think about today winning, hopefully Thursday the same and we have (the) Europa League (semi-final).
"The Europa League is a competition that makes me very excited because I lost the final three or four years ago and I want to take that knife from my back. So hopefully we can fight for the that title as well, but I know very good (semi-final opponents) Celta Vigo. They are a very difficult team."
Herrera's United will look to boost their top-four hopes again when they take on local rivals Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium on Thursday night.
Barney Corkhill
