Arsenal star Declan Rice has been crowned Player of the Year at the London Football Awards with Chelsea’s Cole Palmer named Young Player of the Year.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta missed out on the Manager of the Year award to Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou and it was a double scoop for Spurs as Guglielmo Vicario was named Goalkeeper of the Year.
Meanwhile, Chelsea duo Lauren James and Aggie Beever-Jones were crowned WSL Player of the Year and Women’s Young Player of the Year respectively.
Arsenal’s £105m summer signing Rice gave an emotional speech at The Roundhouse in Camden after picking up the top award in the men’s game.
‘Since I’ve walked through the doors [at Arsenal] I’ve loved every single moment of it,’ Rice said.
‘I was at West Ham for 10 years and it’s such a big change with the environment, life, a different manager and different friends, so my thinking was just to go there and be myself.
‘As time has gone on and the games have gone on I’ve tried to be confident and do the best I can for the team.
‘So far we’ve been going really well and hopefully we can have a good end to the season.
‘There have been so many good moments so far, but I think due to the stature of the game I would have to say the goal against Manchester United was the best.
‘It was my first goal for Arsenal – Alejandro Garnacho had one ruled out for offside five minutes before and then I took one down off my chin and put it in the back of the net so I was happy with that one. That was the best moment so far.’
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