It’s the 8th month of the NextGoalWinner Player of the Month award, and as the season comes to a close, the award for April goes back to a man who is having an absolute resurgence in his career following the loan move to West Ham, Mr Jesse Lingard. The now 2 time winner of the NextGoalWinner Player of the Month award is truly revitalised at the London Stadium, and getting game-time under Moyes, he has played in all 4 West Ham games in the month, playing the full 90 in 3 out of the 4 and only missing 3 minutes of football the entire month. With the England squad set to be announced shortly, and a huge summer ahead, Lingard is arguably the most in-form England forward option and could push himself onto that plane ahead of some big names.

So, while we can’t get too carried away with Lingard for England chatter just yet, allow us to explain why the attacker has earnt the Player of the Month award once again this month, and as always let us know over on Twitter (@NextGoalWinBlog) if you agree/disagree with our decision for April.

The Stats

In just 4 Premier League games this month, West Ham have had a mixed bag. They started the month off brilliantly, with some terrific games and performances in which goals were flowing and they picked up a big 6 points against tough opposition in the form of Wolves and Leicester. However, their top 4 and European ambitions have fallen slightly in the second half of the month as they fell victim to Newcastle and rivals Chelsea. Despite the up & down month they’ve undergone, Lingard has stood out once again as a pivotal player in their games. Despite only arriving in late January, there’s a big argument he could be one of the signings of the season and he is showing his United side of Manchester what they’ve let loose on the Premier League.

In the 4 games played, Lingard played all but 3 minutes, and in this time he bagged 4 goals, grabbed 1 assist and was a top 3 rated performer (according to WhoScored? ratings) in all 4 matches. This equated to an average 7.42/10 performance for the month again using WhoScored? rating system. These performances bring Lingard up to 9 goals for the Hammers in only 11 appearances, truly fantastic numbers from a player who we cannot forget barely graced the pitch in the first half of the season. Moving to West Ham feels like Lingard has been a caged animal that has just been released and hungry for football. With only a handful of games left this season, West Ham still in the hunt for European football and England football on the horizon, I am genuinely excited to see what Lingard can provide in the final few weeks of the season.

Match By Match

April 5th: Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-3 West Ham United – In the months’ opener, the game itself was a great watch, and West Ham got off to a flyer as Lingard bagged the opener in the first 6 minutes of the game. From there until half-time, West Ham were dominant and quickly added 2 more, only for Wolves to come back into the game. West Ham held off however and with Lingard assisting the 3rd, his contributions helped seal the 3 points in a vital game for the Hammers against what is always tough opposition in Wolves. Lingard earnt a 7.76/10 for this one, and was a real nuisance in the first half to get his side the big advantage which Wolves could not match.

April 11th: West Ham United 3-2 Leicester City – In what was another thrilling watch for the neutral, West Ham again went on a tear to get themselves 3-0 up just into the second half. Again from this point they almost lost it as Leicester grabbed 2 goals back, however they left it too late to take any of the points away from West Ham. Lingard was the star man in this performance, as he bagged 2 first half goals and once again was a nightmare for the Leicester defence. It was his top performance of the month as he earnt an 8.6/10 rating.

April 17th: Newcastle United 3-2 West Ham United – After such a strong start in the month, this one was a big slip up from West Ham as they were on the receiving end of a 3-2 this time against a fairly average Newcastle side. Lingard did get on the scoresheet as he bagged the equalising penalty to make it 2-2, however it was Newcastle who took all the points with a winner late in the game. Lingard had a solid performance, however couldn’t do much to make the difference, particularly with his side going down to 10 men in the first 40 minutes. Therefore, he obviously wasn’t given the ability to attack as much as he would have needed. This is certainly a stumbling block for West Ham, however Lingard can still certainly be proud of this performance.-

April 24th: West Ham United 0-1 Chelsea – To wrap up the month, West Ham again fell victim to a defeat where they really needed to win. However, many wouldn’t be too critical of a 1-0 defeat to a strong Chelsea side particularly again going down to 10 men in the last 10 minutes. It was a much tighter game compared to the previous 3, and Lingard couldn’t really get himself into the game as his side were being pressed back. It was the first and only time in the month where Lingard didn’t get on the scoresheet, and despite trying his best to make things happen, it wasn’t to be. Although it was a bit of a tough finish to the month, this still has been an incredible few weeks for the revitalised English forward.