As voting is set to start in the Daily Echo player of the year, only two candidates look to be in the running in my mind.
In recent years player of the year at Saints has been pretty straightforward but this season it looks set to change, whilst some would put forward Jose Fonte and other champion Alex Oxlade Chamberlain for the way he has come to the fore, I would say it is a straight fight between Adam Lallana and Lee Barnard.
Lallana would start the favourite, quite frankly he makes Saints tick and more often than not when he has been missing Saints have struggled, at this level he has it all and there arent many others in this division with the skill and guile of Lallana.
But in recent weeks he has been given a run for his money by Lee Barnard, Barnard has always been the porr relation to Rickie Lambert since he arrived at SMS from Southend, but his contribution has often been overlooked, in the league with 14 goals he is only 4 behind Lambert, but when you take into account Lambert has 5 penalties to his name the balance is redressed, add to that, the fact Barnard with 24 starts has made 16 less than his strike partner and when he plays is often inexplicably substituted and the statistics are clear Barnard in terms of goals per game and especially minutes on the pitch per goal is by far our most deadly striker.
He more than anyone has dragged Saints kicking and screaming into 2nd place and for this deserves to figure strongly in the voting, at time of writing its unclear whether his season might be over through the injury sustained against Bristol Rover, if it is it will be a big blow for Saints as Barnard's workrate creates chances for others as well as himself and he might just have been the man who fired us past the finishing line
So I do fully expect Adam Lallana to be honoured come the end of season voting, however it will be harsh on Barnard who once again will find himself overshadowed by a perceived big name.