A big prize for Declan Rice! Arsenal midfielder beats team-mate William Saliba and West Ham's Jarrod Bowen to Premier League Player of the Year gong at London Football Awards

The England international scooped the same prize back in 2022 when on the books of West Ham. He completed a big-money transfer to Emirates Stadium last summer and has quickly become a talismanic presence for the Gunners.

Rice’s efforts have been recognised with a prestigious individual gong, with the 25-year-old pipping club colleague William Saliba, ex-Hammers team-mate Jarrod Bowen and Tottenham rivals Guglielmo Vicario and Pedro Porro to first place.

Rice has said of his time at Arsenal: “Since the moment I walked through the doors, I’ve loved every single minute of it. Obviously I was at West Ham for 10 years - it’s such a big change in environment, life, different manager, different players, and my thing was to just go there and be myself. As time’s gone on, as games have gone on, I’ve just tried to be confident and do the best I can for the team and so far we’re doing really well. Thirteen (games) to go, but hopefully we can have a good end to the season.”

Elsewhere, Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta was beaten to the Manager of the Year award by Spurs coach Ange Postecoglou, while Vicario took home the Goalkeeper of the Year award and Crystal Palace winger Michael Olise won Goal of the Year for his spectacular strike against Luton.