Jesse Lingard has been voted EA Sports Premier League Player of the Month for April!
The West Ham United and England forward was recognised by supporters for his outstanding performances in Claret and Blue, which saw him score four goals and assist a fifth in his four appearances.
After being nominated for the award in both February and March, the 28-year-old made it third time lucky, and he was thankful to every supporter whose vote helped him secure the award for the first time in his career.
“It’s amazing," he said. "It’s the first time in my career that I’ve received this award and I’d obviously like to thank the fans for voting, my teammates and staff for helping me get there. It’s been a long road and I’ve been nominated the last two months and even getting nominated was a great feeling for me as I want to be up there with the best and competing for the best awards.
“I definitely think I'm in the best form of my career. I’ve always wanted to work on consistency in my game and I think it’s come at a good time. Playing regular football always helps and I want to improve every game and try and help the team get as many wins as possible.”
I definitely think I'm in the best form of my career. I’ve always wanted to work on consistency in my game and I think it’s come at a good time
Jesse Lingard
Lingard kicked-off the month with a sensational display in the 3-2 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers, where he opened the scoring with a wonderful individual goal that saw him run from inside his own half before beating Rui Patricio with a left-foot finish.
He then played his part in Pablo Fornals’ second, running onto Aaron Cresswell’s pass before beating Nelson Semedo with an outrageous piece of skill that teed up Arthur Masuaku to cross for the Spaniard to score. And the No11 completed a memorable evening at Molineux by carving through the Wolves defence on another unstoppable run before playing Jarrod Bowen to smash home the Hammers’ third goal.
The Manchester United loanee was at the double in West Ham’s next game, a 3-2 home win over high-flying Leicester City, boosting the Club’s chances of securing European qualification with two well-taken right-foot finishes.
But which were Lingard's own standout moments of his month?
“I would probably say the Wolves game, obviously with my goal and assist as well,” he smiled. “I felt we started that game really well. Obviously, we let them back into the game but we managed to ride it out and we had the composure to see the game out and it was a massive three points.
“I’d touch on the Newcastle game as well. Under very difficult circumstances after the red card, I thought we had the bottle and that character and team spirit to come back and try and claw something back. We got it back to 2-2 but a lapse in concentration and conceding the third goal was obviously disappointing, but we showed great character in that game.”
All that helped Lingard beat Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold, Leeds United’s Stuart Dallas, Manchester United’s Mason Greenwood, Leicester City’s Kelechi Iheanacho, West Bromwich Albion’s Matheus Pereira, Newcastle United’s Allan Saint-Maximin and Burnley’s Chris Wood to win the trophy.
Lingard is the sixth West Ham player to win the prestigious award.
The first was Stuart Pearce, who is now back with the Club as a first-team coach, who won the award for his performances playing as a centre-back against Liverpool, Coventry City and Bradford City in February 2001.
The second winner was another defender, Anton Ferdinand, who capped a fine January 2006 that saw the Irons defeat Aston Villa and Fulham with a sensational goal in the 2-1 win over the Cottagers.
Our third Player of the Month was Scott Parker, whose herculean performances were rewarded in February 2011 – a month in which his half-time team talk inspired his side to recover from three goals down to draw at West Bromwich Albion, and his goal set West Ham on the way to a 3-1 home win over Liverpool.
October 2014 saw Diafra Sakho recognised for his record-setting start to life in a Claret and Blue shirt, as the Senegalese striker scored in the three Premier League games West Ham played that month, all of which ended in victories – 2-0 at home to Queens Park Rangers, 3-1 at Burnley and 2-1 at home to Manchester City.
Last but not least, Michail Antonio won the award in July 2020 after scoring a scarcely believable eight goals in seven Premier League appearances, including a Club-record four in a 4-0 win at Norwich City.
Everyone at West Ham United would like to congratulate Jesse on being named Premier League Player of the Month.
