Surprise Players of the Month
Harry Kane may only be 24 years of age, but he requires just one more Premier League Player of the Month award to move clear of Steven Gerrard and become the footballer who has received the prize most often since it was launched in August 1994.
Didier Drogba, Peter Schmeichel and Yaya Toure are among the high-profile stars who failed to scoop the award, but what about the surprise winners? Here's a curious dozen, presented alphabetically.
Marcus Bent (Ipswich – January 2002)
Despite being part of an Ipswich side which went down at the end of the 2001-02 Premier League season, Bent picked up the Player of the Month award in January, when he netted five goals in four games as Ipswich enjoyed a fantastic run at the turn of the year.
Bent’s goals had helped pull the Tractor Boys out of the relegation zone, but their form soon dropped off and they ultimately finished 18th. The journeyman striker, who turns 40 in May, is now playing his football at Wick in the Southern Combination Premier League, five years after leaving Indonesian outfit Mitra Kukar.
Kevin Campbell (Everton – April 1999)
Campbell made 325 Premier League appearances but his only Player of the Month title rewarded a brilliant April 1999 for Everton. Despite not scoring in the defeats by Liverpool and Sheffield Wednesday at the beginning of the month, Campbell bagged two in each of the Toffees’ next three encounters – including crucial goals in the 2-0 win over Coventry and a 3-1 victory at Newcastle.
Campbell retired from football in 2007 after brief spells at West Brom and Cardiff. He played over 200 games for Arsenal but is best remembered for his time at Goodison Park, where he was the Toffees’ top scorer in three consecutive seasons at the turn of the century.
Edu (Arsenal – February 2004)
The Brazilian, who made 100 appearances for Arsenal, picked up the award during the Gunners’ unbeaten campaign in 2003-04 – although he did have to share the monthly prize with team-mate Dennis Bergkamp.
Edu bagged a crucial winner as Arsenal came from behind to beat Claudio Ranieri’s Chelsea 2-1 to go seven points clear at the top of the table. It may not seem overly surprising that a midfielder playing for the best team in the land was honoured with the award, but it becomes a great deal more eyebrow-raising when you consider team-mate Patrick Vieira didn’t win it at any point in his Premier League career.
Johan Elmander (Bolton – November 2010)
The Swedish striker was rewarded for a fine month in late 2010 – one in which his boss Owen Coyle picked up the manager’s prize and was even linked with the Arsenal job. (He's available again, having just left Ross County.) Bolton enjoyed three wins and two draws in November 2010, while Elmander netted three goals for the Trotters – including a double in the 5-1 win over Newcastle.
Elmander’s goal against Wolves in that November is memorable for a sublime piece of skill to turn away from three defenders, before the forward slotted into the bottom corner. Wanderers were sixth in March but slumped to finish 14th after losing eight of their last 10 games – including a 5-0 humiliation by Stoke in the FA Cup Semi-Final, for which Coyle selected Elmander in central midfield.
Mickey Evans (Southampton – April 1997)
One-time Republic of Ireland international Evans scored three goals as Southampton went unbeaten in April 1997, helping preserve the south coast side’s Premiership status. Evans kick-started the month with a goal at Nottingham Forest, before notching against West Ham and Coventry to help Saints pick up a pivotal 11 points.
Evans only ever scored four times in his 22 appearances for Southampton, with 75% of those goals coming in April 1997. Despite becoming something of a cult hero at The Dell, the Irishman joined West Brom later that year.
Anton Ferdinand (West Ham – January 2006)
The less acclaimed Ferdinand brother has won the same number of Player of the Month awards as his older sibling Rio (one), making them the only siblings to claim the prize.
In January 2006, Ferdinand’s dominant performances helped West Ham grab two wins from three league games, with the centre-back also opening the scoring in a 2-1 defeat of Fulham towards the end of the month.
The season ended in heartbreak, however, as Ferdinand saw his decisive shootout penalty saved in the FA Cup final when West Ham were beaten by Liverpool.
Mikael Forssell (Birmingham – March 2004)
On loan at Birmingham from Chelsea, Forssell enjoyed the most prolific season of his career in 2003-04 with 17 league goals. This was the fourth-highest total of anyone in the top tier that campaign and, amusingly, more than any Chelsea player managed in the first season of Roman Abramovich’s roubles.
In March, the Finnish finisher picked up the Player of the Month award after netting six goals in five matches, including doubles against Middlesbrough and Leeds. He returned to Birmingham on loan again the following season, but didn’t score in his four appearances.
Tim Krul (Newcastle – November 2013)
Alan Pardew’s Newcastle won all four of their league games in November 2013, including massive wins over Chelsea and Tottenham in which Krul kept clean sheets (and against Spurs, made a phenomenal 14 saves).
Newcastle went on to finish 10th that season, after which Krul suffered several injuries and spent time on loan at Ajax and AZ in his home league. The Dutch keeper is now at Premier League newbies Brighton, but he’s struggled for game time behind No.1 Mat Ryan.
Adam Le Fondre (Reading – January 2013)
Le Fondre secured Reading’s first ever Player of the Month award in January 2013 after scoring five goals in four games. The Stockport-born striker grabbed crucial late goals in three successive outings, with his 88th-minute equaliser against West Brom setting up a spectacular finish as the Royals won 3-2.
The following week, Le Fondre’s double secured all three points as Reading came from behind to beat Newcastle, before he scored another pair at the end of the month to rescue a point against Chelsea. The striker finished the season with the most substitute goals in a season (8) – a record that still stands – while he's in the all-time top five for Premier League goals per minute.
Alex Manninger (Arsenal – March 1998)
The Arsenal reserve goalkeeper picked up the prize in his first season at the club – and it was richly deserved, too. With David Seaman sidelined through injury, understudy Manninger came in and kept six straight clean sheets, equalling a club record in the process. The last of these came in a crucial 1-0 victory over Manchester United at Old Trafford, a win which proved pivotal as Arsenal won the league by a single point ahead of Alex Ferguson’s side.
The Austrian rarely established himself as a No.1 throughout his career, but he did make a surprise return to English football in 2016 when he joined Liverpool on a short-term contract.
Peter Odemwingie (West Brom – September 2010, April 2011, February 2012)
Odemwingie didn’t just win the Player of the Month award once, nor twice, but three times. The Nigerian arrived in England at West Brom in 2010, hit the ground running and did enough to nab the award in September of that year.
He became only the sixth player to win the award twice in the same season after plundering five goals in six April 2011 games to help West Brom survive relegation. A third Player of the Month accolade was claimed by the Nigerian in February 2012, when he bagged five times in just two appearances. But these days, he's just another transfer-window meme after his foiled attempts to to join QPR in 2013.
Connor Wickham (Sunderland – April 2014)
April 2014 was a miraculous month for Sunderland, who picked up seven crucial points to retain their Premier League status against all the odds. After defeats earlier in the month by Tottenham and Everton, Wickham inspired a 2-2 draw at Manchester City with both Black Cats goals.
Three days later the striker scored again as the Wearsiders famously beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, before his double the following week helped see off Cardiff 4-0. Wickham was unable to maintain his form the following year, though, and was sold to Crystal Palace in summer 2015.
