Tottenham Hotspur playmaker James Maddison has been voted August’s Premier League Player of the Month, earning the award for the first time in his career.
The England international, who joined from Leicester City in the summer, has enjoyed a fine start to life in north London, scoring two goals and adding two assists.
Tottenham, who appointed Ange Postecoglou in June, remain unbeaten in the league this season and sit second in the table, behind reigning champions Manchester City.
“I’ve been nominated for the award a few times, so it’s a nice feeling to actually win it,” Maddison told the Premier League’s official website.
“It’s never easy as a new player at a new club in the Premier League, so if you’d have offered me this at the start of the season, I’d have bitten your hand off.
“So many big names, elite players in the past and currently have won this award so it’s nice to be in that category. This award will sit nicely on the mantelpiece.”
But how do the Premier League’s monthly awards work and who decides the winners?
How is the player of the month winner decided?
The Premier League — and the award’s sponsor, EA Sports — encourage fans to get involved with the voting.
But any award solely voted for by supporters comes with a couple of glaring issues: bias and the size of fanbases.
Therefore, while the opinion of fans is taken into consideration, it only accounts for 10 per cent of the overall decision.
The other 90 per cent is determined by a panel of experts — made up journalists, former referees and Premier League legends — as well as the captains of each top-flight club.
Which players have won the award the most?
Unsurprisingly, there are plenty of players who have been the recipient of the award more than once.
Although, there aren’t any who have won it more than Sergio Aguero and Harry Kane, with both strikers getting their hands on it on seven separate occasions.
Those two strikers are closely followed by six-time winners Steven Gerrard and Cristiano Ronaldo. Then come former Manchester United pair Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie both won it five times.
Only Mohamed Salah has won it in three consecutive months while Bruno Fernandes became the first player with four wins in a calendar year in 2020.
As a club, Manchester United have the most Player of the Months wins with 45. Although, after Bukayo Saka was handed the award back in March, Arsenal have the most individual winners with 22.
The players to have won the award three times or more are as follows:
- 7 — Sergio Aguero & Harry Kane
- 6 — Steven Gerrard & Cristiano Ronaldo
- 5 — Wayne Rooney & Robin van Persie
- 4 — Dennis Bergkamp, Bruno Fernandes, Thierry Henry, Frank Lampard, Marcus Rashford, Mohamed Salah, Paul Scholes, Alan Shearer, Jamie Vardy
- 3 — Gareth Bale, Son Heung-min, Robbie Keane, Sadio Mane, Peter Odemwingie, Raheem Sterling, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Dwight Yorke, Ashley Young
How is the manager of the month winner decided?
A similar process is used for the Manager of the Month award.
The fan vote is the same as, like for the player award, it is worth 10 per cent of the decision. However, the captains of each club do not have a say.
That means the other 90 per cent is determined by the panel who are also involved in the decisions for Player of the Month and Goal of the Month.
Which managers have won the award the most?
No prizes for guessing this one.
Sir Alex Ferguson is way out on his own in front for the record. During his time at Manchester United, he was awarded the Manager of the Month award 27 times.
Arsene Wenger (15), Pep Guardiola (11), David Moyes (10) and Jurgen Klopp (9) make up the top five.
Harry Redknapp is the only manager to have won the award during five separate managerial spells; he won it three times with Portsmouth across two different spells, another three times with Tottenham and once each at West Ham and Southampton.
Guardiola, in 2017, is the only manager to have won the award in four consecutive months while Klopp is the only manager to have won it five times in one season, during Liverpool’s triumphant 2019-20 campaign.
These are the managers that have won the award on five or more occasions:
- 27 — Sir Alex Ferguson
- 15 — Arsene Wenger
- 11 — Pep Guardiola
- 10 — David Moyes
- 9 — Jurgen Klopp
- 8 — Martin O’Neill & Harry Redknapp
- 7 — Rafael Benitez
- 6 — Sam Allardyce, Mikel Arteta & Bobby Robson
- 5 — Carlo Ancelotti, Eddie Howe, Kevin Keegan, Claudio Ranieri
(Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images)
