Fulham of England defender, Ola Aina and Crystal Palace playmaker, Eberechi Eze are both in the running for the English Premier League best goal of the month award for November, megasportsarena.com reports.
Stunning goals from each of the players has put them both in contention for the diadem, which is officially known as Budweiser Goal of the Month award, with both London-born youngsters aiming to become the first player of Nigerian descent to win the gong since the inception during the 2016/17 season.
While Aina has been nominated with his wonder strike for Fulham against West Bromwich Albion on November 2, Eze’s effort against Leeds United on November 7 makes the shortlist of eight beautiful efforts in all, with Manchester City’s Riyad Mahrez, Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy, Southampton duo of Danny Ings and James Ward-Prowse, as well as Brighton’s Solly March and Leeds United’s Raphinha all listed.
The winner will be chosen by the supporters’ vote combined with the choices from a panel of experts and will be announced next week, with Aina backing on his sizzler that came 30 minutes into his side’s home game at Craven Cottage against WBA.
The Super Eagles right-back, who is on loan from AS Torino of Italy to The Cottagers, doubled Fulham’s advantage with a wonderful strike into the top corner, which was his first goal in his seventh EPL appearance, while Eze hit home a brilliant free-kick midway through the first half against Leeds, as he also netted his first goal in the English top-flight.
Incidentally, the nominations came at few hours after Eze was named Crystal Palace’s Player of the Month for November 2020, after the summer signing from Queens Park Rangers put in a full shift in all three matches The Eagles played in the EPL.
So far, the highlight of the season for him was his brilliant goal in a 4-1 rout of Leeds, against which he also provided his first assist in the top-flight, and he went on to win almost 64 percent of the votes, while his nearest challenger, Nathaniel Clyne finished with ten percent.
Eze was all smiles as he received the trophy and told Palace’s official website: “It’s a great privilege and I’m grateful the fans have been entertained by my performances. It’s a great pleasure.
“Leeds was a huge game for me. It was the perfect opportunity for me to come in and to stake my claim. It was a great performance by the boys, great points on the board.”
