Written by Katie Shergold @flump 9

In just over three months’ time the West Ham player awards evening will be taking place at The InterContinental London. I am really hoping to attend this year, as I have heard from numerous people that it is a great event. Whilst thinking about attending, it also got me thinking about the potential winners of each award and thought it would be an ideal opportunity to reflect on some of the performances this season. I have listed some of the awards categories below and who my winners would currently be. I think some of my choices will definitely be debated and I look forward to hearing your opinions. Let me know what you think @flump9.

 Best Team Performance

Now if I am honest, there sadly haven’t been many great team performances this season, but there are a handful to choose form. The first one that stood out for me was our away win to Crystal Palace, because it felt like the first time we started to play together as a team and I had hoped we would turn a corner after that match. It was a great performance, but it is not going to be my choice, instead I am going for the home win against Crystal Palace. I was feeling a little disappointed by the first half performance, but I could not have been happier with the teams’ response after the break. We played with passion, fight, commitment and more importantly we played as a team. The team were one, the fans were one and it finally felt like the West Ham we had longed for all season.

Winner – Vs Crystal Palace, 14 January 2017

Save of the Season

Now I really believe we have two great shot-stoppers to choose from and feel a little sad for Adrian this season, as he had a few bad games and lost his place to Darren Randolph. Though for Randolph this was a great opportunity and he really has made his mark. There is only one option for save of the season and that is Randolph’s stunning late save against Liverpool in December. Jordan Henderson struck it perfectly and Randolph tipped it over the bar, ensuring we got a well-deserved point at Anfield.

Winner – Darren Randolph Vs Liverpool, 11 December 2016

Top Goal-scorer

Now this is the only category that isn’t based upon opinion. Michail Antonio is currently West Ham’s top goal-scorer, scoring 8 goals this season, with Andy Carroll behind him with 6. Will Antonio still be our top goal-scorer in May, who knows, but I hope he continues the form he has shown this season, as I believe he really does deserve another England call-up.

Winner – Michail Antonio

 Signing of the Season

This category came down to two players, Edimilson Fernandes and Manuel Lanzini. Fernandes has been consistent for us whenever he has played and for such a young player, I think this shows what a talent he is. Despite this, for me Manu has just outshone him. Over the last few weeks he has appeared to be stepping out of Payet’s shadow and showing us the creativity that we witnessed last season. He took his goal against Crystal Palace with real confidence and his celebration afterwards is enough for me give him this award.

Winner – Manuel Lanzini

Players’ Player of the Year

Well quite clearly I cannot pick this winner, as sadly I am not a player. However, I did manage to get the opinion of two great former West Ham players, Danny Gabbidon and Jack Collison and they both chose the same player – Michail Antonio. Collison had no doubts and chose Michail simply for his passion and Gabbidon picked him as he believes without his goals, assists and versatility West Ham would be in much deeper trouble. He also had a little mention about his England recognition too.

Winner – Michail Antonio (awarded by Danny Gabbidon and Jack Collison)

 Goal of the season

No choice………Andy Carroll! This winner does not really need an explanation, as if you are not aware of this goal, I’m not sure why you are reading this article. All I will say is, I could not believe it when it went in, it was one of the best goals I have ever witnessed and will never get bored of watching it.

Winner – Andy Carroll Vs Crystal Palace, 14 January 2017

 Best Individual Performance

This is a surprisingly difficult category to pick from, I struggled to think of anything too positive from the early part of the season and once again it was the Crystal Palace game in January that stood out.

Now it is pretty obvious that the whole team were great that day, as I chose this for my team performance of the season, but two players really stood out for me. Andy Carroll was superb all game, not only was he a handful for the Crystal Palace defence, but some of his passes were sensational and that is without even mentioning ‘that goal’! Having said all of that about Andy, it has to be Antonio’s performance in that same game that is the winner for me. He was unlikely to start before the game as he had flu the night before, so he could have been forgiven for having a poor game. However, Antonio had anything but a poor game. He provided all three assists for the goals, showed his brilliant determination and was simply outstanding.

Winner – Michail Antonio Vs Crystal Palace, 14 January 2017.

 Hammer of the Year

I remember considering this same question last year and there were far many more to choose from, as almost every player had a fantastic season. For me there are only three players that I could currently choose from, two of which are Antonio and Obiang. As Danny Gabbidon stated, without Antonio we would most certainly be in a much lower league position and for that we have to be incredibly grateful we have him in the team. Pedro Obiang has been unbelievable this season and has shown what a quality player he is. I am so relieved we did not sell him in the summer, as he has been one of the most consistent, hardworking and reliable players and proven how important he is to the team.

However, the winner for me has to be Winston Reid. He has consistently improved in his time at West Ham and I really believe that he is having one of his best (possibly his best ever) seasons at West Ham. He has been solid at the back, in what has sadly been a bit of a poor defence, he has proven his leadership skills and has saved us on many occasions. He has shown passion and commitment and have seen him on many occasions appear to be the only one showing any fight. I love players that are passionate and give 100% and for me this season that player is…………

Winston Winston Reid, Winston Winston Reid. Who scored the last goal at Upton Park?! Winston Winston Reid!

Winner – Winston Reid