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With less than half of the season remaining, it's becoming clear which sides are in the hunt for their domestic league titles. Though many sides participate in a particular league, only a handful of them aim to go all the way and lift the major silverware.
Where defending champions Manchester City are dominating in the Premier League, there is a two-way battle between Real Madrid and Sevilla in La Liga. Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain are in the works for their domestic league titles in the Bundesliga and Ligue 1 respectively. Meanwhile, Inter Milan, Napoli and AC Milan are in the hunt for the Serie A title.
Sometimes a single player can have a significant impact on his side
Of course it takes a huge team effort for these clubs to achieve such a feat. However, in some cases an individual can play such a key role in a team's title challenge in a particular season.
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In today's listicle, we look at three players who have been integral to their team's title challenge this season.
#3. Aleksandar Mitrovic (Fulham)
At the end of the 2019-20 season, Fulham gained promotion to the Premier League via the playoffs, thanks to their Serbian frontman Aleksandar Mitrovic. He topped the Championship's goalscoring charts with 26 goals in 40 matches.
Fast forward two years and the 27-year-old is once again tearing it up in the English Football League. Only this time he's on his way to making history, having already bettered his 2019-20 tally.
Serbia's all-time top goalscorer has bagged 28 goals in just 26 games at the time of writing. He has scored a goal every 81 minutes on average, including three hat-tricks. Remarkably, as an individual player, he has scored more goals than clubs Barnsley, Peterborough and Hull City have managed in total this term.
Unsurprisingly, he is the division's top goal-getter, seven strikes ahead of Blackburn's Ben Brereton. Mitrovic has netted 20 more goals than anyone in the Fulham squad.
If the former Newcastle United striker continues firing at this rate, he'll end the campaign with a ridiculous 49 goals. If this were to happen, he'd comfortably be breaking Ivan Toney's record of 33 goals in a single championship season set last year.
Despite the fact that the majority of Mitrovic's goals have come from inside the box, he's also proven that he's not just a poacher. Mitrovic has assisted seven goals for his teammates behind Harry Wilson (10 assists).
It's alarming how reliant manager Marco Silva's system is on the Serbian though. Fellow forwards Rodrigo Munez and Bobby Ried have scored just eight goals between them. In total, Mitrovic's goal contributions have earned his side a whopping 13 points. Minus his tally they would've shot down to sixth in the league.
Fulham currently sit five points clear at the top of the table with a game in hand and are clear favorites for a return to the Premier League. But if they do gain yet another promotion, the former Anderlecht man will need to start carrying this form over to the English top-flight.
#2. Cody Gakpo (PSV Eindhoven)
Having comfortably won the Eredivisie last term by 16 points, Ajax find themselves in a much tighter battle for the trophy this year. Their rivals PSV Eindhoven are just two points behind the leaders at the time of writing.
The Dutch champions have looked strong in the Champions League this year, finishing on top of their group. Hence, Roger Schmidt's PSV side should be commended for keeping up the pace with their rivals. However, this would not be possible without their homegrown star Cody Gakpo.
The 22-year-old winger made his debut for PSV back in 2018 and has impressed ever since but he has truly shone this season. The Dutchman has 16 goal involvements in 15 games in the league this season which is a career-high and above his tally of nine last term.
Gakpo has been PSV's most potent forward this season, contributing seven more goals than anyone else in the squad. Named the club's vice-captain in the summer, Gakpo has repaid his manager's faith. He has a goal and assist rate of 1.2 per 90 - the best in Holland.
His underlying numbers are superb across the board, completing 2.8 key passes per match, which is more than Manchester City's Kevin de Bruyne. What's more, the left-winger took seven shots and created seven chances in their 3-1 win over PEC Zwolle in October. He became the first PSV player to hit such numbers in a single league game since Dries Mertens in 2011.
It's no surprise that he is a fan-favorite at the Philips Stadion as PSV would be 14 points less well-off without his goal contributions this term. The Dutch Super Cup holders struggled without their talisman in the autumn after an ankle injury forced him out for five games.
During that time, Eindhoven outfit dropped five points, including a damning 5-0 defeat to Ajax. When Gakpo returned to the side, they won five consecutive games showing just how important he is.
The future looks incredibly bright for the PSV wonderkid who seems destined for bigger things. Manchester City and Liverpool are reported to be interested in the youngster. If he maintains this kind of form in Holland, he could end the season with more silverware and attract further attention across Europe.
#1. Theo Hernandez (AC Milan)
After eight years without Champions League football, AC Milan finally found themselves back in Europe's elite competition, finishing Serie A runner-up last term. This year they aim to do one better and claim their first Scudetto in 12 years.
Currently just four points off top stop, the Rossoneri have heavily relied on their attacking left-back Theo Hernandez. The 24-year-old was excellent last term, contributing 13 goals.
But this season he's reaching new heights. Hernandez has already been involved in nine goals which is only bettered by Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the Milan squad. In fact, amongst fullbacks, only Trent Alexander-Arnold of Liverpool has more goal contributions (12) in Europe's top five leagues.
Hernandez excels in Stefano Pioli's attacking 4-2-3-1 system, taking 1.4 shots per 90, i.e, more than his teammate and striker Olivier Giroud. The Marseille-born defender is often at the heart of his team's attacking play. He produces 0.7 goals-creating actions per game which is only bettered by Rafael Leao in the squad.
Hernandez may thrive in the final-third of the pitch but he is also solid in defense, completing three tackles and interceptions per 90. He gets dribbled past just 0.2 times per game, ranking top 2% of fullbacks across Europe in this metric.
Without his goal contributions, Milan would be five points worse off. When the left-back missed four games due to injury and suspension, the side dropped five points. There's a strong case to say Milan's slim chance of a 19th Scudetto have been largely kept alive by the high-flying Frenchman.
However, Sandro Tonali, who has been spearheading Milan's midfield, also deserves a big shoutout!
