London bosses up for Premier League October Manager of the Month award

Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta and Tottenham Hotspur’s Ange Postecoglou are two of the four nominees who have been shortlisted for October’s Premier League Manager of the Month award.

The other two head coaches in the running for the award are Aston Villa’s Unai Emery and Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp, for their respective excellent runs over the course of October.

Postecoglou has won the previous two Manager of the Month awards for both August and September - but will he make it three in a row? We’ll examine each manager’s chances of winning the award in this piece.

Who is the favourite to win the October Premier League Manager of the Month award?

Arsenal have had a solid, if unspectacular October. They started the month with a bang by defeating reigning champions Manchester City and ended it with a 5-0 win over lowly Sheffield United - but a 2-2 draw with Chelsea could hinder Arteta’s chances.

Tottenham, meanwhile, won three out of three games in October. They defeated Luton Town, Fulham and Crystal Palace last month - making Postecoglou a strong contender to pick up his third Manager of the Month award in succession.

He could face serious competition from Jurgen Klopp - even though the Reds got the month off to a mediocre start, with a 2-2 draw away at Brighton, but kicked on from that point. They broke down a stubborn Everton side in a meaty Merseyside Derby to win 2-0, then swept aside Nottingham Forest by a score of 3-0.

Finally, we have Unai Emery, who led Aston Villa to two wins out of three in October. The Villans laboured to a 2-2 draw against Wolves, but went on to demolish West Ham and defeat Luton towards the end of the month.

As such, the only manager with a perfect record in October was Postecoglou. Therefore, he must enter as the favourite to win the award - but this depends on how highly Arsenal’s win over Manchester City is valued by the awarding body.