Hammers scoop awards double

West Ham United completed a win double as Sam Allardyce and Diafra Sakho scooped the October Barclays Premier League Manager and Player of the Month awards.

Big Sam guided his side to a perfect October, with the Hammers rising to fourth in the table courtesy of convincing home wins over Queens Park Rangers and champions Manchester City and a stylish 3-1 victory at Burnley.

The manager, who celebrated his 60th birthday on 19 October, wins the sixth Premier League Manager of the Month award of his outstanding career, taking him level with the late Sir Bobby Robson and Rafael Benitez in sixth on the all-time list.

Most recently, Big Sam was also presented with the award in February 2014, when his West Ham team won all four matches to all but ensure their Barclays Premier League future.

He is one of four West Ham bosses to have won the award, with the others being Harry Redknapp (November 1998), Glenn Roeder (March 2003) and Alan Pardew (February 2006).

"I was delighted to be presented with the Barclays Manager of the Month award for October," said Big Sam. "It is an award I accepted gratefully on behalf of everybody at West Ham, from the owners to the tea lady.

"We all enjoy life more when we're winning football matches and certainly life has become that little bit easier for us all in recent weeks, with the reward being a very nice trophy.

"The pinnacle of October was obviously beating Manchester City, but the most important thing was being able to put away two teams we were expected to beat in QPR and Burnley. Because we did that, we had the platform to go into the Man City game with confidence and the impetus to beat the champions.

"For me, it was a great month and the players have grown in confidence. The performances have been there all season, bar the Southampton game, but in October we got the results we deserved. We are undefeated in four games and now the emphasis is on how long we can keep this run going and keep us where we are in the table and, who knows, take us even higher."

Awards

Big Sam and Diafra receive their awards from Barclays representatives

Sakho continued his outstanding opening to life in Claret and Blue by scoring in all three games - all three with his head - to take his overall tally to seven goals in seven starts following his summer move from French club Metz.

He becomes just the fourth West Ham player to win the prestigious award, following Stuart Pearce (February 2001), Anton Ferdinand (January 2006) and Scott Parker (February 2011).

The 24-year-old is the second Senegalese to be recognised in this way, with Newcastle United's former West Ham striker Demba Ba scooping the award in December 2011.

It is not the first time Sakho's goalscoring prowess has been recognised publicly. Last season, his 20 goals led Metz to promotion from Ligue 2 and earned the striker the division's Player of the Year award.