March PL Awards: Lukaku, Townsend and Howe scoop last month’s honors

Everton striker, Romelu Lukaku scored four goals in March to claim the player of the month award for the first time ever.

The Belgian forward scored and assisted in a 3-0 home win over West Bromwich Albion, he also found the back of the net after losing 3-2 to Tottenham Hotspur and finally grabbed a brace in a 4-0 home win victory over Hull City.

Lukaku is currently the leading top scorer in the Premier League with 21 goals. The 23-year old has made history by becoming the first Toffees player to reach 20 goals in a single season.

The former Chelsea and West Brom Albion man received the highest votes ahead of Nathan Redmond(Southampton), Mamadou Sakho (Crystal Palace), Liverpool’s Georginio Wijnaldum and Bournemouth’s pair of custodian Artur Boruc and attacker Joshua King.

Harry Kane of Spurs had won the award in February.

Crystal Palace’s Andros Townsend took home the goal of the month accolade after his solo effort versus West Bromwich Albion making it 2-0 win on March 4.

The former Spurs winger, dispossessed teenager Jonathan Leko at the back, ran with the ball beating defender Gareth Mc Auley before slotting in past Ben Forster at the goal.

Other contenders in the category were Eden Hazard(Chelsea), Jesse Lingard (Man Utd), Andros Townsend(Palace), Fernando Llorente(Swansea), Oumar Niasse(Hull), Alexis Sanchez(Arsenal), Robert Huth(Leicester)

In February, Hazard’s goal against Arsenal carried the day.

AFC Bournemouth’s unbeaten run in the month of March saw its manager, Eddie Howe, picking up the award for the first time.

The Cherries who managed two wins (against West ham and Swansea) and one draw against Manchester United, secured back-to-back Premier Leagues wins for the first time in 1leven months.

The 39-year old Englishman becomes the second youngest Premier League manager after Gary Monk (with Swansea then) in 2014 who was 35 years old.

Howe garnered the highest votes from a panel of experts and the public beating Mauricio Pochettino of Spurs, Jürgen Klopp of Liverpool, Palace’s Sam Allardayce, Craig Shakespeare of Leicester and Chelsea’s Antonio Conte.