The 3 Arsenal players hoping to pip Bruno Fernandes to PFA Player of the Year award

This season may now be in full swing, but Arsenal fans will never get tired of reminiscing about the last campaign. Well, Gonners will get the chance to do just that on Tuesday night. That is because, the PFA awards will take place at the Opera House in Manchester, with members of Mikel Arteta’s squad likely to hoover up a fair few awards, following their Premier League title triumph.

In fact, of the six nominees to win Men's PFA Players' Player of the Year, three are representing the champions.

Men's PFA Players' Player of the Year nominees

Gabriel: Arsenal.

Declan Rice: Arsenal.

David Raya: Arsenal.

Erling Braut HÃ¥land: Manchester City.

Rayan Cherki: Manchester City.

Bruno Fernandes: Manchester United.

Also worth noting that Alessia Russo is nominated for the women’s award, while Max Dowman is on the young player shortlist, with Olivia Smith up for the young women’s player of the year. Nevertheless, the senior men’s award has to be Arsenal’s best chance of collecting silverware on Tuesday.

Bruno Fernandes is currently the favourites to do so, having been given the FWA Footballer of the Year trophy at the end of last season. That is voted for by almost 1,000 journalists, and the commonly accepted wisdom was that, because Arteta’s team had no single outstanding individual, three or four Arsenal players split the vote, allowed the Portuguese international to take home the trophy.

The PFA award meantime is voted for by fellow players, but that is not to say the same won’t happen again. Fernandes did break the single-season Premier League assists record, racking up 21, as well as dragging a bang-average Manchester United side up to third.

Nevertheless, he undeniably benefited from the Red Devils not being in European competition. The the 31 year old accumulated 3,203 club minutes last season, fewer than eight Arsenal players, namely Bukayo Saka, Jurriën Timber, Viktor Gyökeres, Gabriel, William Saliba, Martín Zubimendi, Declan Rice and David Raya.

Thus, it would be difficult to argue that any of Raya, Rice or Gabriel would not be deserving winners. So, just how many times has an Arsenal player been crowned PFA Players’ Player of the Year?

Arsenal PFA Players’ Player of the Year winners

2011/12: Robin van Persie.

2002/03 & 2003/04: Thierry Henry.

1997/98: Dennis Bergkamp.

1978/79: Liam Brady.

To date, only four Arsenal players have ever picked up this prestigious award. The Gunners’ tally of five wins is two ahead of Chelsea and one more than Manchester City, currently level with fierce rivals Tottenham Hotspur. They are though a long way behind Liverpool’s ten and Manchester United’s record haul of 11.

Even if an Arsenal player does not land the top prize, expect plenty or representation in PFA Team of the Season. Saliba is set to be named in the TOTS for a fourth season running, with Gabriel and Rice targeting three in a row. So, what is the highest number of players Arsenal have had in the team?

Most number of Arsenal players in PFA Team of the Year

Arsenal’s record number of players in Team of the Season is, unsurprisingly, from the Invincibles, when six members of Arsène Wenger’s squad made the cut. Overall though, since the awards were first handed out in 1973/74, the Gunners have only had three or more players feature ten times, including in each of the last three seasons, set to add to that on Tuesday.

This represents quite the upturn. Between 2012/13 and 2021/22, just three Gunners made it into TOTS, namely Alexis Sánchez (14/15), Héctor Bellerín (15/16) and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (19/20). Three players in ten years is representative of Arsenal’s miserable years, set to have more than that in just one night as the Premier League trophy returned to North London.