Delph and Grealish nab big end-of-season awards

Fabian Delph and Jack Grealish have won Aston Villa's player of the season and young player of the season awards, respectively. For the captain, Delph, it's his second straight year earning the award. Grealish is making his award debut in his first year as a regular with the senior squad.

Delph's award comes after a season that saw him become an England regular, and one in which he was inarguably Villa's most important cog in a midfield that has recently started clicking and looking quite good. On top of that he extended his contract at  Villa this season, likely endearing himself to the fans, many of whom thought he was gone in January or this summer. One could make a pretty could argument that Delph should have gotten the award simply for scoring the first (and ultimately, winning) goal in Villa's 2-0 over West Bromwich Albion in the FA Cup quarterfinals.

Grealish has become an absolute dynamo under new manager Tim Sherwood and has played well enough to make his selection in each match's starting XI a foregone conclusion. The young player award is a mini-culmination of Villa fans' expectations for the talented youngster, but hopefully we see plenty more out of him in the future.

While it's easy to agree with both awards, one wonders if perhaps Ciaran Clark and Christian Benteke could have made an argument for the player of the season. The former has been the club's best defender this year, and in his injury-forced absence over the past month, the number of stupid goals that Villa allowed has ticked up quickly. Benteke, on the other hand, was quiet for most of the season, but his goals since Tim Sherwood has joined the club are almost certainly the primary reason that Aston Villa are staying up in the Premier League.