No championship-winning side can be classed as a one-man team, but if any one Manchester United player could be said to have had the greatest bearing on the destiny of the title it is Ruud van Nistelrooy.
In making the manager's thank-you speeches nobody featured more prominently in Alex Ferguson's tributes than the forward who, with a hat-trick against Everton on Sunday, would emulate Denis Law's 39-year record of scoring 46 goals in a season for the club.
The Dutchman's 79 goals from 100 games for the club is the most impressive goal ratio of any player to have appeared in a century of matches, and one goal at Goodison would match his feat of scoring in eight league games in a row, a club record he took a share of last season - within six months of his arrival at Old Trafford - when he emulated Billy Whelan's achievement from 1947.
He would then set his sights on making the record his own in the first game of next season and beyond that, Tom Phillipson's 13 in successive matches for Wolves in 1927. "I wouldn't bet against Ruud in any situation," Ferguson said last night.
While keeping most of his thoughts to himself, Ferguson is bemused van Nistelrooy's feats did not earn him the season's individual honours, and what is the betting that, if the Professional Footballers' Association ordered a re-vote, Thierry Henry would find himself gazumped?
"I wouldn't put any store in that award," Bobby Charlton, the United director and former striker, said. "But I'd say Ruud has probably embarrassed a few of the players who didn't vote for him. He's played against the best defenders in the world this season and they've not been able to stop him."
Ferguson concurs: "It's voted for in December and it's too early to get an accurate reflection of the entire season."
The PFA sends out its voting forms in early February and they must be returned by the first week of April. Yet even so, the award was decided only one game into van Nistelrooy's scoring sequence (13 in nine matches), one which has established him as the favourite for the Premiership's golden boot.
"It's not possible to do it any later," said Gordon Taylor, the PFA's chief executive, yesterday. "The Football League has closed now and players are going on holiday. It's true van Nistelrooy has done brilliantly to come on so well, but we wouldn't want to diminish Thierry Henry's contribution by saying things could be any different."
Van Nistelrooy's sympathisers will suspect similar deadlines were also partly responsible for denying the him the football writers' award. Alternatively, the suspicion at Old Trafford is that as most sports journalists live in or near to London, they vote for the players they see most. At Old Trafford they still wince about David Ginola, then of Tottenham, taking the honour in 1999 ahead of Dwight Yorke, the top scorer in United's treble-winning team.
The championship winners' medal van Nistelrooy will receive on Saturday is of far more worth to a player who seems destined to be ranked alongside Law as United's greatest centre forward.
"Ruud's form at the moment is fantastic," said Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, the club's overall top scorer with 116 in all competitions. "But it isn't all about goals with him because he can also create chances for himself and other people. He makes space for you and defenders are so obviously conscious of him."
And Charlton, who holds the club record with 199 league goals, 245 in total, was just as unequivocal. "He's a natural scorer. There's Jimmy Greaves, Denis Law and you can add Ruud to that," he said. "He's strong, fast, good in the air, right foot, left foot, lethal if you give him a yard. As soon as he gets an opportunity he puts it in, no pontificating about it. It's just instinctive. I'd say he was born to play this role."
