At a swanky awards ceremony in Battersea on Thursday night, West Ham playermaker Dimitri Payet was named London’s Premier League player of the year, beating Mesut Ozil, Willian, Harry Kane and Odion Ighalo (I didn’t know Watford was in the capital?) to the award.
French schemer Payet has made an instant impact at the Boleyn Ground since his summer move from Marseille, with his guile and goals firing the Hammers into the Premier League top six.
The award, voted for by a panel of journalists, former players and representatives, is a nice reward for Payet, who has racked up seven goals and six assists in 21 top-flight games this season.
So it’s official, @dimpayet17 is better than @MesutOzil1088 😜 #LFA16 pic.twitter.com/kPu2qLN87E
— West Ham United FC (@whufc_official) March 3, 2016
.@dimpayet17 has been named London Premier League Player of the Year #LFA16 👏🏻🏆 pic.twitter.com/Txum4ijVMb — West Ham United FC (@whufc_official) March 3, 2016
Beating Arsenal assist-king Ozil to the prize (somewhat surprisingly) will no doubt please West Ham fans furious at the ‘Arsenalisation’ of their ‘We’ve got Payet, Dimitri Payet’ chant. Indeed, maybe they could change the ‘He’s better than Zidane’ bit to ‘He’s better than Ozil’?
In the other awards on the night, Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino scooped the Manager of the Year prize while Chelsea Eniola Aluko was named Women’s Player of the Year.