Last season Sam Allardyce won manager of the month in February after four wins out of four against Swansea, Villa, Norwich and Southampton.
Following his award, our first game in March saw a 1-0 loss against Everton followed by another loss away to Stoke then a third loss in the row to Manchester United at home. Despite two back to back 2-1 wins against Sunderland and Hull in March we then continued with a winless April losing all four games back to back which was only broken by a
2-0 win against Spurs at home before a final day of the season loss against Manchester City.
This time Sam won the manager of the month for October after three wins out our three against QPR. Manchester City and Burnley it appears our fortunes have changed once again. Since the award we have yet to win a game in November after two draws against Stoke and Villa and now the loss against Everton on Saturday. Our last fixture against Newcastle will be a tall task as they are in the form of their lives. After recording their sixth win on the trot they have leap frogged us and relegated us back down to sixth.
The same curse appears to follow the Player of the Month for October, Diafra Sakho who scored 3 goals in 3 games in October having scored in 5 consecutive league games up to the end of October. On 1st November those goals dried up with Sakho suffering a shoulder injury and missing the trip to Stoke, he has managed just 90 minutes on the pitch since November from a 3 possible games with zero goals and one assist. He is currently suffering from a back injury and is doubtful for next Saturday.
The surprise injury list on Saturday of Diafra Sakho, Alex Song, Stewart Downing and Enner Valencia plus International fatigue for Chek Kouyate is a massive blow for any chance of a win in November and I understand these injuries will last between 7 and 21 days meaning some players will not be fit this weekend to line up against Pardew’s men.
Added to this recent injury list is a suspension for Winston Reid after picking up this fifth yellow card plus concerns for James Collins, Mark Noble and Morgan Amalfitano who appeared to pick up knocks at Goodison Park on Saturday.
With the way our luck is going you will excuse me if I don’t hold out too much hope for our final game in November against the Magpies!
December brings games West Bromwich Albion, Swansea City, Sunderland, Leicester City,Chelsea and Arsenal.