Alphonse Areola’s acrobatic stop to deny Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne has won West Ham United’s 2024/25 Save of the Season award.
The France international threw himself high to his right to claw away the Belgian’s curling strike before it could find the top left-hand corner of the Hammers net at London Stadium.
Areola was also nominated for another high-flying save from Chelsea’s Cole Palmer at Stamford Bridge, and an incredible recovery to prevent Maximilian Kilman deflecting Jacob Murphy’s cross into his own net in the home game against Newcastle United.
Łukasz Fabiański was shortlisted for a flying one-handed stop to deny Nottingham Forest’s Ramón Sosa at the City Ground, and superb saves to keep out Dango Ouattara’s low shot and Ryan Christie’s powerful effort at AFC Bournemouth.
Areola also won the Save of the Season award in 2021/22, for his stop to deny Sevilla's Youssef En-Nesyri in the UEFA Europa League round of 16 second leg, and 2023/24 for an incredible reflex save from Leandro Trossard in a home Premier League game against Arsenal.
In between, he scooped the Save of the Tournament award on our way to winning the 2022/23 UEFA Europa Conference League for his group-stage save from Anderlecht's Fábio Silva.
Fabiański won the award in 2018/19 for his remarkable stop from Marouane Fellaini in a Premier League victory over Manchester United at London Stadium. The award was not presented at the end of the COVID-affected 2017/18 season.
