Graeme Souness believes Raheem Sterling deserves to win the Player of the Year award.
The Manchester City star was at the double as his side eased past Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Sunday.
That brace took Sterling's Premier League tally to 15 goals for the season as City put pressure on Liverpool in the title race.
Sterling is expected to battle it out with Reds stalwart Virgil van Dijk for the individual honours but Souness believes the England international has the edge.
"Sterling left Anfield, at 20 and he's been sensational. And he should only get better," Souness said on Sky Sports.
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"He's not the most clinical and he will accept that, he should be well into his 20s playing for that team and I think he will, playing in this side with these players.
"I'd give [Player of the Year] to him right now, I think he has been fabulous."
Sterling opened the scoring at Palace after a fine pass from Kevin De Bruyne and added a second before Gabriel Jesus made sure of the win late on.
He admitted City were wary of the potential banana skin at Selhurst Park with his side now knowing they will be champions if they win their remaining five matches.
City's win was the perfect response to their midweek defeat to Tottenham in the Champions League.
"It's one game we lost but not like we've been on a bad run. That's the standard here, we had to bounce back straight away," he added.
"We always knew coming here in past has proven difficult place to come, we got two goals but knew we couldn't switch off.
"They push you here and make things difficult. We were glad to get the third."
