TalkSport pundit Tony Cascarino has selected Crystal Palace left-back Patrick van Aanholt in his Premier League Team of the Season so far.
Cascarino has heaped praise on the Dutchman for his performances this season and has put him in the side ahead of Liverpool star Andy Robertson.
Speaking to GameDay Breakfast on talkSPORT (15/03/20 at 8:30 am), Cascarino said:
I have thrown a spanner in the works at left-back. Left-back is a tougher one. Andy Robertson has been outstanding for Liverpool.
And I kept thinking, ‘who would I say has done equally as well or maybe even a tad better?’. I went for Van Aanholt at Palace. His season has just been pretty spectacular for me. Him and Gary Cahill have done brilliantly at Palace.
High praise indeed from the former Celtic and Chelsea forward, picking out van Aanholt as the best left-back in the entire division this season.
It shows just how well he has performed at Selhurst Park this term and why he is one of the most important players in the squad.
The Dutch defender has started 22 of Palace’s 29 games, scoring three goals from left-back for Roy Hodgson’s side. He has also averaged a solid WhoScored rating of 6.79 for his displays.
Whether this warrants him being named the best left-back in the league is another conversation, but Cascarino’s comments alone are enough to show that people outside of Palace are taking notice of him.
He has been a consistent performer over the last few years with Palace and a key cog in Hodgson’s system. Van Aanholt is not the perfect defender and is prone to the occasional lapse in concentration, but makes up for it with his impressive attacking output. In the last three-and-a-half seasons, he’s scored 13 goals and provided three assists from left-back – an impressive tally for a defender.
