September Shortlists for PFA Vertu Motors Fans' Player of the Month Awards!
The PFA Vertu Motors Fans' Player of the Month award nominations have been made for September. Six players from each of the top five professional leagues in England have been shortlisted for their outstanding performances to start the 2021/22 campaign, with fans across the country getting to vote to determine who wins.
Voting is now open for supporters to pick one player from each league listed in the shortlists below to win the Player of the Month award – fans can do so now by Clicking Here.
Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United), Antonio Rudiger (Chelsea), Mohamed Salah (Liverpool), Ismaila Sarr (Watford), Ivan Toney (Brentford) and Michail Antonio (West Ham United) are the six players fans can vote for to win this month’s Premier League award.
Ronaldo has had a homecoming to remember at Manchester United, scoring three in as many games. At the same time, Premier League top scorer Salah hit a century of Premier League goals in September. Rudiger, the only defender to make the Premier League shortlist, was instrumental in Chelsea keeping four clean sheets in their opening six games. Sarr, Toney and Antonio have all shone for their respective teams on the attacking front.
A staggering four Arsenal Women’s players make up the shortlist of six for the Barclays FA WSL award, which highlights the dominance the Gunners have shown so far. Kim Little, Beth Mead, Leah Williamson and Vivianne Miedema are joined by Fran Kirby (Chelsea) and Shelina Zadorsky (Tottenham Hotspur).
September saw a 100% winning start for Arsenal, which has been down to a real team effort up front and in defence. Both Miedema and Little have scored four goals each already this season, while Williamson has been the rock at the back with Arsenal having only conceded two goals. Fran Kirby has been one of Chelsea’s star players this season with five assists already, while Zadorsky’s form has been crucial to Spurs’, who also maintain an unbeaten start to the campaign.
Luke Berry (Luton Town), John Swift (Reading), Viktor Gyokeres (Coventry City), Phillip Billing (Bournemouth), Aleksandar Mitrovic (Fulham) and Ben Brereton (Blackburn Rovers) are the six players nominated for the EFL Championship. Mitrovic and Brereton lead the way in the Championship goalscoring charts with ten goals each, followed by Gyokeres (9) and Swift (7), who have all received nominations for the September award. Bournemouth remain unbeaten in the league thanks mainly to the efforts of Billing and his decisive goals this month, while Berry, not renowned for his goalscoring exploits, has grabbed three crucial goals for Luton in September.
EFL League One sees Charlie Wyke (Wigan Athletic), Anthony Scully (Lincoln City), Will Keane (Wigan Athletic), Cole Stockton (Morecambe), Carl Winchester (Sunderland) and Lewis Fiorini (Lincoln City) all nominated. Sunderland had a great September, with Winchester having a big part to play with winning goals against promotion rivals Accrington Stanley and Bolton Wanderers. Wyke and Keane have formed a deadly strike partnership for table topping Wigan, and both feature on the shortlist. Jorge Grant was a significant loss for Lincoln in the summer, but new arrival Fiorini and Scully have plugged the gap with ten goals between them to start the year, while Stockton’s 9 league goals for Morecambe see him top of the scoring charts.
In EFL League Two, Jamile Matt (Forest Green Rovers), Luke McGee (Forest Green Rovers), Jake Beesley (Rochdale), Luke Armstrong (Harrogate Town), Harry Smith (Leyton Orient) and Joe Kizzi (Sutton United) are the six players deemed worth of nomination by the PFA panel of former players. Forest Green have shot to the top of League Two, with weapons at both ends of the field in McGee and Matt. Armstrong tops the goal-scoring charts, with Smith closely behind, earning them a place on the shortlist. The EFL newcomers have had a fantastic month, and defender Kizzi has played a starring role, and Beesley has claimed three goals and an assist in September for Rochdale.
With the shortlists completed, it is now time for the fans to decide the winner of the inaugural PFA Vertu Motors Fans' Player of the Month award, which celebrates the very best that the English game has to offer on and off the football pitch.
The PFA Vertu Fans' Player of the Month votes are open now (Vote Here) - and will close on Sunday 10 October, with the winners announced in the week following.