Alexis Sanchez was voted to be Arsenal’s Vitality Player of the Month for September, but should Walcott have been the winner?
The Chilean won the award with 39.4% of the fans vote, while Theo picked up the second-most votes with 23.2% of your backing, but interestingly the Premier League Player of the Month award had only one Gunner shortlisted, and the English forward was the one involved.
Walcott has come under increased scrutiny in recent seasons, with many growing frustrated with his continual injury problems and inconsistencies, and his disappointing end to the previous campaign saw him become a martyr to ridicule.
Despite the pressure on him, he has started the new season with a string of impressive displays, and even bagged four goals in the month of September, with Alexis also scoring the same.
One reason for the difference with our player award and the Premier League shortlist could be down to the Champions League matches not reviewed in their analysis, but at the same time, the Basel match was full of missed opportunities for Alexis, while Walcott was the man to bag both of the goals in that match, which should have been more in favour of the latter.
The newly-converted centre forward has now picked up his first Arsenal Player of the Month award of the season, following Laurent Koscielny’s August award.
Walcott is still in the running for the league’s monthly award however, although Heung-Min Son of Tottenham is expected to pick up the award when it is announced, which is likely to be around the October 9.
Granit Xhaka and Arsene Wenger are also in with a great chance of picking up Premier League awards for September in the Goal of the Month and Manager of the Month categories.
Does the Vitality Award tell us that Arsenal fans are too hard on Theo or simply that Alexis is more like-able/favoured by us?
Pat J