Nigerian striker, Odion Ighalo, has seen off stiff competition from the duo of Mesut Ozil and Dele Alli to win his first Premier League Player of the Month Award.
Ighalo, who has been nominated repeatedly in the past, finally got the morale boosting reward as he emerged as the best player in England’s top flight league for the last month of 2015.
Happily, it was double delight for Watford as Manager Quique Sanchez Flores won the Premier League manager section having led the Hornets to important wins in the period under review.
Flores’ side amassed 10 points from five fixtures to finish the calendar year on a good momentum in which they recorded victories over Norwich, Sunderland and Liverpool.
Ighalo scored five goals in the month, including two in the Vicarage Road win over Liverpool, to take his tally for the season to 13, tied for third in the Premier League behind Romelu Lukaku and Jamie Vardy.
A creditable draw at Stamford Bridge followed four wins in a row including the victory at Aston Villa at the end of November, before Watford finished the year with a last-ditch loss at home to Spurs.
Ighalo now joins the exclusive list of Nigerian players like Osaze Odemwingie, Yakubu Aiyegbeni and Jay Jay Okocha who at different times had been voted best player of the month in England’s top flight.
Though currently third in the top scorers’ category, it would not be surprising to see Ighalo overtake the duo of Vardy and Lukaku who are the current top guns in the EPL.
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