The Premier League legends also chose Son Heung-min.
All eyes are now on Son Heung-min, who has now won five Player of the Month awards.
On February 2 (KST), British broadcaster Sky Sports revealed the best 11 players of the first half of the season as selected by former Manchester United defender Gary Neville and former Liverpool center back Jamie Carragher, who commentate on the channel’s official social media accounts.
The two have a total of eight players in common, and the placement of Son Heung-min as a left winger is noticeable.
Carragher opted for a 4-3-3 formation, with Son Heung-min, Jerome Boateng (West Ham United), and Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) in the front three from the left.
Bernardo Silva (Manchester City), Declan Rice (Arsenal), and Cole Palmer (Chelsea) were then selected in the midfield. The back four is, from left to right, Destiny Udogie (Tottenham Hotspur), Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool), William Saliba (Arsenal), and Alexander Trent-Arnold (Liverpool).
In goal was Italian international Guglielmo Vicario, who has been in fine form for Tottenham this season.
Neville, who was part of United’s 1999 triple treble, disagreed with Carragher on a few points, including the use of Son on the left wing.
Opting for a 4-2-4 formation, Neville chose a front four of Heung-min, Holland, Boyen, and Salah from the left. The two midfielders were Rice and Rodri (Manchester City).
The back four was Udogie, van Dijk, Saliba, and Alexander-Arnold. The goalkeeper was not Vicario, but Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker.
Now, Heung-min will follow in the footsteps of the two legends and try to win his fifth Premier League Player of the Month award.
Including the New Year’s Day win over Bournemouth, Son scored four goals and provided four assists in seven appearances during the month of December. Starting with a goal and an assist against Man City in Round 14, which ended in a 3-3 draw, Heung-min scored a goal and two assists against Newcastle United in Round 16, leading to a 4-1 win.
He followed that up with two goals and an assist in three games in Rounds 18-20, giving him a whopping eight offensive points in December.
This makes him a strong candidate for December Player of the Month, especially since no other player in the league had more offensive points than Son over the past month.
However, it would be premature to say that Son is already a lock for the award. Teammate Heung-min’s five goals and Bournemouth striker Solanke’s six goals have been good enough to earn him Player of the Month honors.
Hwang’s teammates Mateusz Cunha (Wolverhampton Wanderers – 3 goals, 3 assists) and Cole Palmer (Chelsea – 4 goals, 2 assists) are also expected to be nominated.
If Son beats out the stiff competition and wins the December Player of the Month award, it will be the second time this season that he has won the honor after winning it in September. Heung-min scored six goals in four games during the month of September to earn his fourth Premier League Player of the Month award.
If Son is named Player of the Month in December as he was in September, he will have won five awards in his career, matching the total of Robin van Persie, Wayne Rooney, and Mohamed Salah. Only four players have won more Player of the Month awards: Cristiano Ronaldo, Steven Gerrard (six), Sergio Aguero, and Harry Kane (seven).