Chelsea men, women dominate London Football Awards nominations

The London Football Awards nominations were announced yesterday, and after practically getting shut out last year — only the Chelsea Foundation managed to win a category, for Community Project of the Year — we’re back with a vengeance. We won’t know for sure of course, as winners won’t be announced until March 5, but Chelsea are dominating the nominations so far, on both the men’s and the women’s side.

Outside of goalkeeper of the year (sorry, Kepa!) and non-applicable awards like EFL Player of the Year, we have at least two nominees in each category.

Emma Hayes and Frank Lampard were both nominated for Manager of the Year, while Tammy Abraham and Jorginho are both in the running for Player of the Year (as is Gary Cahill!). Chelsea FCW trio Bethany England, Erin Cuthbert, and Magdalena Eriksson were all nominated for Women’s Player of the Year. Three of the five nominees for Young Player of the Year are also from Chelsea, with Fikayo Tomori, Mason Mount, and Tammy Abraham getting recognized. We even have two Goal of the Season nominees, incidentally both from defensive midfielders, with N’Golo Kanté’s goal against Liverpool earning a nod alongside Sophie Ingle’s wonderstrike against Arsenal.

The LFAs celebrate the best of football in London, while supporting a worthy cause in the Willow national charity.

The full list of nominees in the actual football categories is as follows:

PL Player of the Year:
Gary Cahill (Crystal Palace), Heung-Min Son (Tottenham), Jorginho (Chelsea), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal), Tammy Abraham (Chelsea)

Women’s Player of the Year:
Beth England (Chelsea FCW), Beth Mead (Arsenal WFC), Erin Cuthbert (Chelsea FCW), Magdalena Eriksson (Chelsea FCW), Vivianne Miedema (Arsenal WFC)

Manager of the Year:
Emma Hayes (Chelsea FCW), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Joe Montemurro (Arsenal WFC), Roy Hodgson (Crystal Palace), Thomas Frank (Brentford)

Goalkeeper of the Year:
Ben Foster (Watford), Bernd Leno (Arsenal), David Raya (Brentford), Łukasz Fabiański (West Ham), Vicente Guaita (Crystal Palace)

U21 Player of Year:
Bryan Mbeumo (Brentford), Fikayo Tomori (Chelsea), Gabriel Martinelli (Arsenal), Mason Mount (Chelsea), Tammy Abraham (Chelsea)

EFL Player of the Year:
Aleksandar Mitrović (Fulham), Bryan Mbeumo (Brentford), Jed Wallaca (Millwall), Ollie Watkins (Brentford), Saïd Benrahma (Brentford)

Goal of the Year (with links):
Heung-Min Son (Tottenham), Jordan Ayew (Crystal Palace), N’Golo Kanté (Chelsea), Sébastien Haller (West Ham United), Sophie Ingle (Chelsea FCW)