The Liverpool Offside’s Player of the Month: September

In August, new signing Sadio Mané was the clear winner of player of the month honours, racing past Adam Lallana and Philippe Coutinho as the winger proved there would be no adjustment period to life at Anfield. For September, the names at the top are likely to be similar, but the order likely won’t be.

Based on post-match voting from Liverpool’s four games in September, there are fully four top contenders for player of the month honours: Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino were both named man of the match once—Firmino against Leicester and Coutinho against Derby County—and runners-up once.

Meanwhile, Adam Lallana is nipping close at their heels—the club’s new number eight was named man of the match against Hull City and finished third in voting against Leicester. Plus there’s Jöel Matip, who was the only player to end up in the top five in post-match voting for every game in September.

With five points awarded for being named man of the match through to a single point for finishing fifth in voting, Firmino and Coutinho lead the way with nine points each while Lallana and Matip have eight apiece. Last month’s winner, Sadio Mané, has six points while Jordan Henderson rounds things out with five.

Though both Mané and Henderson are worthy of mention, it’s clear the race is between Coutinho, Firmino, Lallana, and Matip—and it’s entirely unclear which is likely to come out on top, which should make for one of the most competitive and least certain player of the month votes in memory.