Chelsea's 'almost mid-season awards'

Nine awards and who I'd choose to win them. Have your say in the comments!

With it being what feels like the 100th international break of the season already, I thought now seems like the perfect time to look back and reflect on the season we’ve had so far and hand out some ‘almost mid-season awards’. 

There are nine prestigious awards up for grabs today and I hope to see your picks for the prizes in the comments section. 

The awards are as follows: 

• Player of the season

• Surprise of the season 

• Goal of the season

• Flop of the season

• Signing of the season

• Assist of the season

• Best result of the season

• Worst result of the season

• Save of the season 

Player of the season

There have been a few standout players for Chelsea so far this season but for me, none have been better than Conor Gallagher. His levels have increased drastically from last season and he’s been an absolute joy to watch. 

He embodies everything we all love to see in a footballer. He’s tenacious, relentless, loyal, and his technical ability is unrecognisable from last year. He’s standing out in a class midfield that includes Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo. 

I hope we can get his contract sorted as soon as possible because frankly, he deserves it and we need him. This all could’ve been so different had he not resisted the chance to move on deadline day. 

Surprise of the season

This award could be seen in one of two ways. A pleasant surprise or an unpleasant surprise. I like to think of myself as a glass-half-full type of fan so I’m going with a pleasant surprise here. 

For me, that player is Marc Cucurella. The Spaniard is another player who was extremely close to leaving the club in the summer and when that move didn’t materialise, I expected him to be a reserve until we had another chance to move him on in January. 

He received his chance when Ben Chilwell suffered his injury and he’s been brilliant every time he’s stepped in. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Cucurella coming into the team directly corresponds to our upturn in form. 

Goal of the season

When looking at potential winners for this award, it was enjoyable to see that we’ve actually scored a fair amount of goals this season. It felt like last season we were restricted to about two goals a month so at least that’s changed. 

There is a clear top three for me and they are Chukwuemeka vs West Ham, Sterling’s first vs Luton and Mudryk vs Arsenal. 

I’m going to pick Chukwuemeka vs West Ham as I think it’s the best of the lot technically. It’s an absolute piece of brilliance. The way he gets past his man and slams it into the top corner is just pure class and I hope to see him back playing very soon. 

Flop of the season

This one will naturally divide the most opinions but I’m actually quite happy that no one really stood out for me when thinking about this. 

I’ve chosen Ben Chilwell as my flop of the season so far but that’s not entirely his fault. He hasn’t played particularly well but a lot of that is to do with Pochettino playing him out of position. 

I found him frustrating to watch and not particularly effective at what he did. Pair that with how much better Cucurella has been and that’s how I came to this conclusion. 

Signing of the season

There’s surely only one answer for this. It simply has to be Cole Palmer. 

Our final signing of the summer window has just oozed class and has performed in the biggest moments for us. I’m just in awe every time I watch him play football and I’m so glad that we managed to sign him. 

The outsiders ridiculed the signing but he’s proven them all wrong already. He’s been our talisman and his efforts have just earned him an England call-up too.

His last-minute goal against Man City summed him up as a player. Reliable and ice-cold.  

Assist of the season

A lot of assists go under the radar and I’d forgotten a lot of the assists we’ve seen this season but when watching our goals back I saw three assists that were pure class. 

Sterling’s assist to Jackson against Luton was brilliant because Enzo juggled the ball on the halfway line before volleying a ball into Sterling’s path. The World Cup winner doesn’t get the assist, but his involvement in the goal means it’s nominated. 

The other two assists are Palmer’s to Jackson against Brighton where he played an inch-perfect through ball through the defenders' legs and Colwill's to Mudryk against Fulham where he dinked the ball perfectly into his path. 

I’m going to give it to Sterling vs Luton just because I can watch Enzo’s involvement in that all day long!

Best result of the season

Tottenham 1-4 Chelsea is the only answer here. It was just the perfect night. Pochettino came back to Spurs, thrashed them and handed them their first defeat under Ange Postecoglu. 

It was a vital result for us too as it was a crucial three points but it also won Poch a lot of fans. We couldn’t have asked for any more in the end and it’s a game we’ll never forget. 

Worst result of the season 

There have been a fair few bad results this season so far, but none are worse than our 3-1 defeat away at West Ham. 

We were flying in pre-season and performed really well against Liverpool in the first game of the season but that West Ham game seemed to stop all progress momentarily. 

It was just a disaster. Carney got injured straight after scoring a screamer, Enzo missed a penalty and Caicedo had a nightmare of a debut. I just want to forget that game at all costs. 

Save of the season 

The final award obviously goes to Robert Sanchez as we’ve not seen Petrovic yet, unfortunately. 

The former Brighton man has made some top stops so far but a couple stick out as being the best. The save from Erling Haaland on Sunday from close range was very impressive and it was nice to see a Chelsea goalkeeper exhibit strong hands after years of watching Kepa. 

The winner for me is his flying save against Aston Villa from Nicolo Zaniolo’s volley. The save won September’s Premier League goal of the month and it wins here for me. 

Please do get involved and let us know which picks you’d have changed and who you’d have given the awards to. See you in May for the end-of-season awards that are hopefully accompanied by real success on the pitch for Chelsea. UTC. 

By Will Reyner