Anthony Knockaert voted WeAreBrighton.com Player of the Month for March 2019
A frustrating start to 2019 looks to be well and truly behind Anthony Knockaert now with the French winger having been voted as our WeAreBrighton.com Player of the Month for March 2019.
That represents quite the turnaround for a man who hadn’t started a Premier League game this calendar year up until February’s final fixture away at his former club, Leicester City.
Knockaert impressed on that evening at the King Power Stadium and hasn’t looked back. He subsequently started in the wins over Huddersfield Town and Crystal Palace and the FA Cup Quarter Final draw away Millwall.
The Albion’s 2-1 win at Selhurst Park provided the undoubted high point for Knockaert, not just of the month but of his entire season. He scored Brighton’s second that afternoon, a stunning strike from distance that bent right into the stanchion for what must be a shoe-in for Goal of the Season.
Knockaert’s 28.91% of the vote means that he becomes the first man this season to pick up a second Player of the Month award. He also topped the poll back in September, holding off the challenges then of Glenn Murray and Shane Duffy.
Second place this time went to left back Bernardo and it was by an extremely small margin with the Brazilian left back finishing only 1.57% behind Knockaert. Bernardo was one of the only players who left the Amex pitch with any credit after the disappointing 1-0 home defeat to Southampton.
His best performance, like Knockaert’s, came at Selhurst Park however where he dealt brilliantly with the dangerous threat posed by Andros Townsend which went a long way towards helping the Albion to victory.
Solly March was someway back in third, managing to secure 18.75% of the vote despite the fact that he didn’t start one match in March, with Chris Hughton controversially selecting Alireza Jahanbakhsh ahead of him through the month.
It was March’s performance from the bench away at Millwall that was enough to ensure that he rounds off the top three. He was introduced in the 67th minute for the typically ineffective Jahanbakhsh and almost single handedly dragged the Albion into the semi finals of the FA Cup by setting up Jurgen Locadia for the Seagulls first goal and then scoring the second himself.
Anthony Knockaert – 28.91%
Bernardo – 27.34%
Solly March – 18.75%
Shane Duffy – 12.5%
Martin Montoya – 7.03%
Maty Ryan – 5.47%
