Easy to pick Jord as player of season

JORDAN Pickford has matured so much and we saw that again at Newcastle United. Yes, he revels in his role as the pantomime villain and you can tell he loves his new song.

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But once again he saved a great display for an opponent that mattered and he was every bit as important to a great win at St James' Park as Carlos Alcaraz and the other nine players in front of him.

It was a fitting way to sign off another excellent campaign for Pickford - a series of good saves in a hostile environment that showcased his value and took him to another clean sheet for a year in which only David Raya and Matz Sels achieved more.

His form this season makes him my player of the year for Everton.

The future is looking bright and Newcastle was another reminder that such optimism is only possible because of his heroics over the years. When the going gets tough, Pickford shows up - like he did in those big, relegation-fighting games against Chelsea and Leicester City and like he did so many times in the first half of this season, when the team struggled in front of him.