Trossard and Potter up for Premier League awards
A good month for Brighton & Hove Albion could be about to get a little bit better with the news that Leandro Trossard and Graham Potter have been nominated for March’s Premier League Player of the Month and Manager of the Month awards respectively.
The Seagulls played three times in March, beating Newcastle United 3-0 and Southampton 2-1 to move six points clear of the relegation zone. The month had begun with a 2-1 defeat against Leicester City, a match best summed up by Sven-Göran Eriksson’s favourite saying of “first half good, second half not so good.”
Central to those six points were the contributions of Trossard. The Belgian international had suffered an inconsistent winter, doing nothing to dispel those of the opinion that he is a Premier League version of Paul Brooker, another winger who would often hibernate through the colder months.
Spring has sprung though and Trossard has leapt out of his coffin like the talented vampire he is to remind everyone what he is capable of.
He lashed home the winner at St Mary’s after collecting Danny Welbeck’s excellent layoff, producing a clinical strike the likes of which we have seen on too few occasions from players in Brighton blue this season.
Trossard then opened the scoring in the comfortable win over Newcastle with another excellent strike. This time, he collected Joel Veltman’s pass some 25 yards out from goal, turned his marker and beat Martin Dubravka with a sweeping finish. To round off a memorable evening against the Toon, Trossard also claimed an assist.
Up against Trossard for the accolade are Andreas Christensen of Chelsea, England captain Harry Kane, former Brighton loanee Jesse Lingard, Manchester City’s Riyad Mahrez, Illan Meslier from 1996 Coca Cola Cup runners up The Leeds United, Manchester United’s Luke Shaw, and Kelechi Iheanacho who scored for Leicester in their victory at the Amex.
Maty Ryan remains the only Albion player to have ever won a Premier League Player of the Month award, which is rather at odds with those fans who now scream about him being a useless clown for his entire time at the Amex.
The Australian goalkeeper won the accolade in October 2018 when keeping three clean sheets in three consecutive victories, without which Brighton would have been relegated that season.
Earlier this season and Tariq Lamptey was nominated for September’s award after his impressive opening month of the campaign, but he missed out to Everton striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
To vote for Trossard as Premier League Player of the Month for March 2021, please click here.
Joining Trossard in the running for a gong is Potter, this being the second time in three months he has been put on the shortlist for Manager of the Month awards in the 2020-21 season.
The first came in January, when the Albion beat The Leeds United and Spurs and suffered just one league defeat, a close-fought 1-0 loss away at a Manchester City outfit who were rampant at the time.
Potter was beaten to the accolade by Pep Guardiola on that occasion. Somehow, Potter still managed to get hit by the Manager of the Month curse despite not winning the award as Brighton failed to win any of their next six matches following his nomination, including defeats to Crystal Palace and West Brom. Please God do not let a similar run of form occur this time.
The three other managers on the shortlist all recorded unbeaten months compared to Potter’s two wins and a defeat. Ole Gunnar Solksjaer, Brendan Rodgers and Thomas Tuchel are Potter’s rivals for the award.
Should Potter win, it will be the first Premier League Manager of the Month of his career. Chris Hughton was the last Brighton boss to win the award in February 2018 after overseeing an unbeaten month which included victories over West Ham United and Swansea City and a draw at Stoke City. Turned out the Albion could do it on a cold, wet day in the Potteries.
To vote for Potter as Premier League Manager of the Month for March 2021, please click here.
