Arsenal: Gunners' Awards for October

Arsenal showed their resurgence in the month of October, but it started with a 2-1 reverse to their bitter rivals Tottenham.

Robin van Persie stole the show when Arsenal hosted Sunderland. Aaron Ramsey’s late strike was enough to hand the Gunners all three points against Marseille and it was followed by another van Persie-inspired 3-1 win against Stoke.

Park Chu-Young bent it like Beckham when Arsenal played Bolton in the Carling Cup before Robin van Persie burnt Stamford Bridge with a Van-tastic hat trick in the incredible 5-3 victory.

Like previous months, a voting sequence took place for some special awards and the winners have emerged.

Save of the Month

Arsenal played six games in October and conceded eight goals. In terms of goalkeeping personnel, Lukasz Fabianski was reduced to just one Carling Cup game while Wojciech Szczesny kept in the remaining five.

The nominated saves are:

Wojciech Szczesny’s save from Frank Lampard’s free kick when Arsenal visited Stamford Bridge, Wojciech Szczesny’s save from Lee Cattermole’s header when Arsenal played Sunderland and Lukasz Fabianski’s save from Gael Kakuta’s free kick when Arsenal beat Bolton.

The results were:

Szczesny’s save from Lee Cattermole’s header (Sunderland, 16.10.11): 78.92 percent—161 votes

Szczesny’s save from Frank Lampard’s free kick (Chelsea, 29.10.11): 16.67 percent—34 votes

Fabianski’s save from Gael Kakuta’s free kick (Bolton, 25.10.11): 4.41 percent—9 votes

“...an error by Jenkinson allowed Sessegnon to send a cross to the Szczesny’s far post with Lee Cattermole set for the kill. Sunderland’s captain headed the ball towards goal but Arsenal’s goalie developed the reflexes of a cat to make an unbelievable save.”

Culled from Arsenal 2 Sunderland 1: The Flying Dutchman Spares Arsenal’s Blushes

Assist of the Month

Arsenal smashed in 13 goals in September and went one better with 14 goals last month.

The nominated assists were Johan Djourou’s cross for Aaron Ramsey when Arsenal visited Stade Velodrome, Gervinho’s pass for Robin van Persie when Arsenal hosted Stoke and Ramsey’s pass for Gervinho in the same match.

The results were:

Aaron Ramsey’s pass to Gervinho (Stoke, 23.10.11): 65.82 percent—129 votes

Gervinho’s pass to Robin van Persie (Stoke, 23.10.11): 17.35 percent—34 votes

Johan Djourou’s cross to Aaron Ramsey (Marseille, 19.10.11): 16.84 percent—33 votes

“As Arsenal continued to press and probe Stoke’s defense, the breakthrough arrived when Ramsey cleverly chipped the ball over the defense to Gervinho who timed his run to perfection. The Ivorian brought the ball under control before finishing emphatically with his left foot.”

Culled from Arsenal 3 Stoke 1: Robin van Persie proves his worth to Arsenal in gold

Goal of the Month

Arsenal banged in 14 goals in six matches in October, averaging two goals a game, but there were three goals that stood out.

The nominations were Robin van Persie’s third swerving shot when Arsenal visited Stamford Bridge, Park Chu-Young’s curler when Arsenal beat Bolton and van Persie’s free kick when Arsenal played Sunderland.

The results were:

Robin van Persie’s free kick against (Sunderland, 16.10.11): 53.88 percent—111 votes

Park Chu-Young’s goal against (Bolton, 25.10.11): 26.7 percent—55 votes

Robin van Persie’s third goal against (Chelsea, 29.10.11): 19.42 percent—40 votes

“When it all seemed as if all hope was lost and Arsenal was heading for another disappointing draw, Benayoun passed the ball to RVP but the striker was impeded by the rugged Wes Brown. Like Seb Larsson in the first half, van Persie took his time and let out a few bursts of air before curling the ball over the wall to Mignolet’s net”

Culled from Arsenal 2 Sunderland 1: The Flying Dutchman Spares Arsenal’s Blushes

Match of the Month

October was one heck of a month for the Gunners as they won five of the six games played. However, there were three games that stood out from the rest.

The nominations were Arsenal’s  3-1 victory against Stoke, Arsenal’s 5-3 thriller against Chelsea and Arsenal’s late winner against Marseille.

The results were:

Chelsea 3 Arsenal 5 (29.10.11): 96.52 percent—194 votes

Marseille 0 Arsenal 1 (19.10.11): 2.49 percent—5 votes

Arsenal 3 Stoke 1 (23.09.11): 1 percent—2 votes

“HEY CH3L5EA! WHAT’S D MATA? U LOOK TERRYFIED. DID U CECH THE TIME? IT SAYS 3 PAST 5!”

Culled from C-h-3-l-5-e-a (3) A-r-5-3-n-a-l (5): Captain Van-tastic burns the Bridge 

Worst Match of the Month

In a very happy month for Arsenal, the 2-1 loss against rivals Tottenham stands out as Arsenal’s worst match for October.

“While the clubs from Manchester have secured six wins and a draw in their first seven games, Arsenal has secured its fourth loss in the same amount of games.

The media Vultures will start flying around Arsenal and I’m pretty sure that more talk of crisis will dominate the headlines. I’m not going to defend Wenger or his club with the “early days” joke because we already in October and Arsenal is 12 points off the pace.”

Culled from Tottenham 2 Arsenal 1: Arsenal gets Walker-ed on derby day

Most Improved Player of the Month

October has been a month in which many Gunners stepped up the plate, but three Gunners improved more than the rest in October.

The nominations were Andre Santos, Aaron Ramsey and Theo Walcott and the results were:

Aaron Ramsey: 85.13 percent—166 votes

Andre Santos: 10.26 percent—20 votes

Theo Walcott: 4.62 percent—9 votes

Most Disappointing Player of the Month

The usual suspect ,Andrey Arshavin, was nominated again for this "award," and he was partnered by Johan Djourou and Per Mertesacker.

However, the results were:

Johan Djourou: 42.78 percent—83 votes

Per Mertesacker: 30.93 percent—60 votes

Andrey Arshavin: 26.29 percent—51 votes

Player of the Month

My pick of the bunch, the prestigious award given to the best Gunner of October. Three Gunners were in blistering form last month but a certain Gunner was the best by a far mile.

The nominations were Laurent Koscielny, Robin van Persie and Gervinho and the results were:

Robin van Persie: 81.16 percent— 68 votes

Laurent Koscielny: 16.91 percent—35 votes

Gervinho: 1.93 percent—4 votes

I want to reserve special thanks to everyone that participated in this exercise. I believe that my end-of-the-season review as well as season awards will be fun to write knowing fully that my esteemed readers had a hand in it.

You can see the awards for the previous months of August and September in the Awards category and you can also knock yourself out with last season’s review and end-of-the-season awards.

Let’s do this again at the end of November.

Sayonara