Chelsea’s in-form playmaker Eden Hazard has scooped the October Player of the Month award after a series of dazzling displays for the Blues.
The 2014-15 Premier League Player of the Year shone last month as Chelsea put together a four-match winning run against Hull City, Leicester City, Manchester United and Southampton.
This is the first time Hazard has claimed the monthly award and the 17th for a Chelsea player.
He continued his great start to the season in October with three goals and an assist. He created seven chances for teammates and completed 17 dribbles.
‘Thank you for voting for me, see you next month for the same award,’ Hazard said. ‘It’s good, but at the end the most important is to win the season.
‘Without my teammates I am nothing. We did well this month and I hope we can continue like this.’
Hazard attributed his improved form to a more single-minded approach in front of goal.
‘People said I didn’t shoot enough,’ he said. ‘Now I try to shoot and score every game when I’m on the pitch. Before I was thinking about the last pass to make an assist, now I can do it myself.’
The 25-year-old is the fourth Belgian to claim the award after Marouane Fellaini, Jan Vertonghen and Christian Benteke.
He won from a shortlist of seven players featuring Burnley goalkeeper Tom Heaton, Stoke City’s Joe Allen, Manchester City’s Ikay Gundogan, Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho and teammates N’Golo Kante and Diego Costa.
Hazard won after receiving the most combined votes from a panel of experts, Premier League captains and the public.
Hazard congratulated on Twitter:
4️⃣ matches
4️⃣ wins
3️⃣ goals
1️⃣ assistMore on @hazardeden10‘s award: https://t.co/Xl46ToGoXC pic.twitter.com/cSgCZnuQz1
— Premier League (@premierleague) November 18, 2016
Congratulations Eden Hazard! The @ChelseaFC star is the @EASPORTSFIFA Player of the Month for October pic.twitter.com/vu3wCiccsx
— Premier League (@premierleague) November 18, 2016