CITY’S CHANCE TO BE PRIZE GUYS

CITY’S super September has seen them showered with individual nominations from the Premier League.

The Blues won all four games in the month, thrashing Liverpool, Watford, Crystal Palace and Chelsea as they scored 17 goals without reply.

For that, Pep Guardiola has been nominated for manager of the month alongside Mauricio Pochettino, Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger. Of the four, the Catalan is the only one with a perfect record.

Two of his players are in contention to be named the best player for September. Sergio Aguero and Kevin de Bruyne are on a shortlist of seven, with Harry Kane, Romelu Lukaku and Alvaro Morata and also Brighton midfielder Pascal Gross and Newcastle defender Jamaal Lascelles.

De Bruyne is also up for Goal of the Month for his rocket against Chelsea, and two other Blues are on the eight-man shortlist for that.

Leroy Sane’s impressive effort to open the scoring against Crystal Palace is also in the running, as is Fabian Delph’s long-range strike from the same game.

To top off the month, Brahim Diaz is up for the Premier League 2 Player of the Month. The Spaniard has not featured for Guardiola’s team this season but did manage two goals in three games for the EDS.

Guardiola won the manager of the month prize back in February, while the last Blue voted as the best player was Raheem Sterling last August. Aguero won the prize in January and April 2016 and has claimed it four times in total.

City special: Pages 42-44