Khadija Shaw wins October's Barclays WSL Player of the Month

Manchester City striker Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw has won the Barclays WSL Player of the Month award for October thanks to a prolific few weeks for the Jamaica international.

Now in her second season with City, Shaw has stepped out of Ellen White’s shadow so far in 2022/23 following the England veteran’s summer retirement and hasn’t looked back.

City endured a tough start to the new campaign when they were knocked out of the Champions League again by Real Madrid in August and lost back-to-back WSL fixtures against Aston Villa and Chelsea in September. But October was a different story, largely because of Shaw.

Bouncing back from defeat, City thrashed Leicester 4-0 in their first October outing. Shaw opened the scoring midway through the first half and then killed the game with City’s third later on.

There was another brace for the 25-year-old only six days later, this time against Tottenham. She again opened the scoring in the first half and then followed it up almost immediately after half-time as Gareth Taylor’s side eventually secured a 3-0 win.

It was a tighter affair as City ended October with victory over Liverpool. Shaw again broke the deadlock in the first half, with her team going on to win 2-1 after the Reds had equalised.

During three October appearances in the Barclays WSL, Shaw scored five goals to contribute to three absolutely crucial wins, dragging her team up the table and back into the fierce battle for Champions League qualification after initially looking like they might fall away this year.

Manchester United pair Mary Earps and Leah Galton, Arsenal's Frida Maanum and West Ham captain Dagny Brynjarsdottir were the other players nominated for the October award.

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