Ezri Konsa and Declan Rice are both on the eight-man shortlist for the Premier League Player of the Month award for October, and Mikel Arteta is up for Manager of the Month after Arsenal won all three of their league games.
The league named the nominees on Thursday. Fans have until 12:00 GMT on Monday 9 November to vote, and their votes are combined with a panel of football experts before the winners are revealed next week.
It is a fair reward for a month that put Arsenal back on track after the 3-0 defeat at Brighton & Hove Albion at the end of September. Leeds United, Nottingham Forest and Everton were all beaten, and the Gunners conceded just once in the three games.
Why is Konsa on the Player of the Month shortlist?
Ezri Konsa played every minute of Arsenal’s three league matches in October. The summer signing from Aston Villa has formed a strong centre-back partnership with Gabriel Magalhaes, and the pair helped keep two clean sheets in the league.
He chipped in at the other end too. Konsa scored his first goal for the club in the 2-0 win over Everton at the Emirates Stadium, which rounded off the month.
His form has not gone unnoticed outside the club either. Rio Ferdinand recently called him “a top, top player” and said Manchester United missed out on him. The timing of the nomination is awkward, though: Konsa came off in Prague on Wednesday and is a doubt for Hull City on Saturday.
Rice and the two assists that won games
Declan Rice did not score in the league in October, but he set up both of the tight wins. He provided the assist for Bruno Guimaraes’ winner against Leeds, then set up Noni Madueke for the only goal at Nottingham Forest.
The England midfielder created eight chances across the three matches, four of them in the win over Everton, and did his share of the defending in a side that let in one goal all month. Arteta has already said a new deal for Rice is “a matter of time”, and this is the sort of month that explains why.
Who else is on the Player of the Month list?
The Arsenal pair are up against Evanilson of AFC Bournemouth, who scored in all four of his October games, and Aston Villa’s Nicolas Jackson, who also scored four, including both goals in a 2-1 win over Manchester City. The rest of the list is Coventry City’s Jack Rudoni, Tottenham Hotspur’s Jan Paul van Hecke, and Brighton’s Bart Verbruggen and Luka Vuskovic.
Konsa and Rice are also both on Arsenal’s own shortlist for October, alongside Martin Odegaard and Madueke, as we covered when the club opened its Player of the Month vote.
Arteta’s case for Manager of the Month
Arteta is the only one of the six managers nominated who won every league game in October: played three, won three, with a goal difference of plus four. Two of his substitutes, Bruno Guimaraes and Madueke, scored the winners against Leeds and Forest.
He is up against Xabi Alonso of Chelsea, Roberto De Zerbi of Tottenham, Unai Emery of Aston Villa, Fabian Hurzeler of Brighton and Marco Rose of Bournemouth. Alonso’s side were the league’s top scorers in October with nine goals, while De Zerbi took Spurs from the bottom three into the top half with three straight wins.
Verdict: Rice should edge it for Arsenal
Jackson’s brace against City and Evanilson’s goal in every game are hard numbers to argue with, but we would back Rice. Two assists that decided two tight games, eight chances created and a defence that conceded once is the full package from a midfielder.
Arteta has a strong case too. A perfect record from a month that started straight after a 3-0 thumping at Brighton says plenty about how he got his side going again, and Arsenal are now three points clear at the top. Saturday’s game against Hull is the chance to add to that before the November international break.
