West Ham Awards: Arnautovic takes three awards, including Player of the Season

It was time for the annual West Ham United Player Awards for the 2017-18 season on Wednesday evening. And the big winners were as expected.

Both Marko Arnautovic and Declan Rice were the standout receivers of the big prizes on the night, as the club held the event at The InterContinental London at The O2.

It was no surprise that Arnautovic garnered three awards: the Beltway Hammer of the Year, Signing of the Season Award and the Players’ Player of the Season award, as it was the culmination of the Austrian star ascending to the club’s top figure. Although the signing of the season award maybe a little awkward with Slaven Bilic being the main reason why he signed for his current outlet, Arnautovic still was clearly deserving in a season that had few contenders for the crown.

The same can be said about the Young Player of the Year for West Ham, as the Irish wunderkind Rice was really the only choice realistic choice for the award. With Edimilson Fernandes and Josh Cullen the only ones serving as distant competition for him, it was even more of a guarantee that Rice would taken this crowd than Arnautovic’s three awards. And indeed, the 19-year-old versatile force retained his title and looked forward to continuing his Hammers burgeoning career.

“It’s been an amazing year,” he said. “I was picking up this award last year and I was talking about loan options, but now I’ve made 30-odd appearances, have had some praise from some top, top people and I’m loving every minute of it and I can’t wait to play more games and win more trophies in the future.”

And in Hammers Goal of the Season, there was only one standout choice for the prize. And it was Pedro Obiang’s belter against Tottenham at Wembley.

Truly as beautiful of a goal as you will see, and the Spaniard provided that in abundance.