Chelsea players dominate Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher’s teams of the year so far as the Sky Sports pundits handed out their mid-season awards.

The Blues have flown six points clear at the top of the Premier League table after a run of 11-straight victories which led to both men to include at least five member of Antonio Conte’s side in their teams.

They also handed out awards for the best player, manager and newcomer from the season so far.

Premier League top scorer Diego Costa was picked as both Neville and Carragher’s player of the season at the half-way point with Antonio Conte taking the pair’s prize for manager of the season.

“I've gone for Costa, I think he's been outstanding,” Carragher said. “He's top goalscorer in the league and I think he makes a massive difference, when he's on song you think he's really going to take some stopping.”

And Neville said of Conte: “If you think about the imprint of managers on teams, Conte has this team drilled as a replica of his Juventus team in three/four months and that's tough to do.



“He has had the blessing of not being in Europe and he has the training ground time with the team day-in day-out, you can see the shape they're working on is just there all the time.”

The former Manchester United defender picked David Luiz as his best newcomer after arriving from Paris Saint-Germain, despite being highly critical of the Brazilian during his first spell at Stamford Bridge, while Carragher picked Southampton boss Claude Puel.

Carragher included Sunderland's Jordan Pickford in goal (Sky Sports)

Neville also picked Manchester City’s Leroy Sane as the player to watch in the second half of the season after his first goal for his new club against Arsenal on the weekend.

Carragher, meanwhile, picked world-record signing Paul Pogba as his player to watch, saying: “I was critical of him (Pogba) early on in the season but I think now they've found the right fit for him. He's starting to look the real deal.”

Neville opted for Zlatan Ibrahimovic over Alexis Sanchez (Sky Sports)

Gary Neville’s team of the season so far:

Courtois, Azpilicueta, Luiz, Van Dijk, Rose, Lallana, Kante, Fernandinho, Hazard, Costa, Ibrahimovic.

Jamie Carragher’s team of the season so far: