Following the conclusion of Monday night's Merseyside Derby — Liverpool edging Everton with a goal in added-on time to put us neutrals out of our miseries — Sky Sports' dynamic punditry duo of Jamier Carragher and Gary Neville revealed their their Team of the Season and Picks of the Season so far. Given Chelsea's ridiculously impressive eleven-match winning streak and six-point lead at the top of the table after 17 rounds, the Blues unsurprisingly dominated both former players' selections.
The ex-Liverpool defender, whose skills as a pundit have only grown over the last couple seasons, picked five Chelsea players in the Team of the Season so far, singling out César Azpilicueta as the best defender in the league and of course David Luiz as the biggest surprise. Completing his selections were the obvious trio of Diego Costa, Eden Hazard, and N'Golo Kanté.
#MNF Team of the Season So Far..
— MrBridger1905 (@MrBridger1905) December 19, 2016
Gary Neville has 6 Chelsea Players
Jamie Carragher has 5 Chelsea Players#Decent pic.twitter.com/R1VJZ1DJpr
Gary Neville went one further, even, and included Thibaut Courtois as his goalkeeper of the season so far. As much as I appreciate this pick, my only (minor) quibble would be that Courtois has simply not had much work to do at all (very similar to Petr Čech's workload back in the 2004-06 period). That's not to say that Thibaut hasn't been excellent and he's worked hard on improving his rapport with the fans, too, which is a wonderful bonus.
#MNF
— MrBridger1905 (@MrBridger1905) December 19, 2016
Neville & Carragher Pick of the Season pic.twitter.com/j3d6ipqrSF
Carragher and Neville then both picked a Player, a Manager and a Newcomer of the Season, as well as a player to watch in the second half. Unsurprisingly, Chelsea dominated here as well, with Costa and Conte sweeping their categories and Gary Neville continuing to make reparations over his "10-year-old with a Playstation controller" comment regarding David Luiz back in the day. That said, does David Luiz really count as a newcomer?
Chelsea were a frequent topic of conversation last night beyond just these picks; here is a fun bit about our title chances as well. KTBFFH.