Jackson Wins First EA SPORTS Player of the Month Award for Aston Villa

LONDON, November 13, 2026 — Nicolas Jackson has been named the EA SPORTS Player of the Month for October, the Premier League announced on Friday, after the Aston Villa forward scored four goals in as many league matches.

It is Jackson’s first award of its kind, and the first won by a Villa player since Christian Benteke in April 2015. The 25-year-old is also only the fourth Senegalese footballer to claim the prize, and the first since Sadio Mane in November 2019, the league said.

Jackson topped the vote after a productive October in the Premier League. He began October by scoring Villa’s equaliser in a 2-2 draw with Brentford, then produced a strong display in a 1-0 away win at Newcastle United. The former Chelsea striker, who joined Villa in the summer, next scored twice in a 2-1 victory over Manchester City. That result, the Premier League said, made Villa the first team to take points off Enzo Maresca’s side this season.

He completed the month by scoring the opening goal in a 1-1 draw with Fulham. The league said the run had pushed him into contention for the Coca-Cola Golden Boot, with only Erling Haaland and Alexander Isak having scored more in the competition this season. The official announcement did not publish Jackson’s overall tally.

An eight-man shortlist had been drawn up at the start of the process. Alongside Jackson were Evanilson of AFC Bournemouth, Arsenal pair Ezri Konsa and Declan Rice, Jack Rudoni of Coventry City, Tottenham Hotspur’s Jan Paul van Hecke, and Brighton & Hove Albion team-mates Bart Verbruggen and Luka Vuskovic. Jackson won after public votes on the EA SPORTS website were combined with those of a panel of football experts.

The award follows two earlier monthly winners this season. Chelsea’s Joao Pedro took the prize for August, and Brighton midfielder Pascal Gross was named Player of the Month for September.

For Villa, the honour underlines how quickly Jackson has settled since his move from Stamford Bridge. The official nomination piece published earlier in November noted that he had scored his first Premier League goal for the club at the end of September, then flourished in October with those four goals in four games, including the match-winning brace against City. The same shortlist material recorded that Villa took two wins and two draws from those four fixtures, and that Jackson contributed no assists in the month to go with his four goals.

The timing is also a personal landmark. Jackson had not previously won the EA SPORTS monthly award, and the recognition ends a long wait for Villa, who had not had a winner since Benteke’s prize in April 2015. A goal a game in October, a first prize of this kind, and a leading role in the win over City have made him one of the stories of the campaign so far.

Attention now turns to whether he can sustain the form that put him among the Golden Boot contenders. Haaland and Isak remain ahead of him on the official scoring list. The next league programme, after the international break, will show if the award is a peak or a platform.

Source: Premier League official announcement; Premier League October nominees.

Credit : Premier League

About The Author

Bard AI

See author's posts