Nigeria international forward Kelechi Iheanacho is among the eight players that have been shortlisted for April 2021’s EA SPORTS Player of the Month award.
The Leicester City forward won the award for March and is up for last month’s best player honour after by scoring four goals and registering two assists. His haul included superb strikes against West Ham United and Crystal Palace.
The Super Eagles forward will however contend with seven others led by rejuvenated on-loan West Ham striker, Jesse Lingard who claimed two goal involvements in successive matches to inspire 3-2 wins over Wolverhampton Wanderers and Leicester, before finding the net again versus Newcastle.
Others include Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold who was influential for Liverpool throughout April, scoring a superb late winner against Aston Villa in between assists versus Arsenal and Newcastle United.
Stuart Dallas of Leeds United is also in the shortlist after he continued his fine season with both goals as Leeds United secured an impressive 2-1 win at leaders Manchester City. He also kept a clean sheet and helped Leeds go unbeaten throughout the month.
Manchester United youngster Mason Greenwood also made the cut after the 19-year-old scored the winner against Brighton & Hove Albion, claimed a goal and an assist at Tottenham Hotspur and struck twice versus Burnley to match Wayne Rooney’s record of 15 PL goals for Manchester United as a teenager.
West Brom may be starring relegation in the face but the Baggies playmaker has shone briliantly for Sam Allardyce’s men and has managed to keep the club’s faint hopes of safety alive, claiming two goals and two assists in the 5-2 win at Chelsea before scoring versus Southampton and Villa.
Newcastle’s Allan Saint-Maximin who returned from injury to help Newcastle go unbeaten, inspiring a comeback win at Burnley with a goal and an assist and impressing versus Spurs, West Ham and Liverpool and Burnley’s Chris Wood who became the first New Zealander to score a hat-trick, while he also provided an assist, in a 4-0 win at Wolves. He scored and set one up against Southampton to take his total goal involvements to seven in the month complete the list.
Iheanacho won the award in March after scoring five goals to become the fourth Nigerian player to win the award, after Jay Jay Okocha, Peter Odemwingie and Odion Ighalo.
The Nigerian who is also the first Leicester City player to claim the prize since Jamie Vardy in October 2019 began March by scoring only his second goal of the PL season with a volley in a 1-1 draw at Burnley that was nominated for the Budweiser Goal of the Month award.
Three days later he struck the equaliser as Leicester came from behind to win 2-1 at Brighton & Hove Albion, and he then scored his first PL hat-trick in the 5-0 victory over Sheffield United..