Folarin Balogun has received an unsurprising nomination for Premier League 2 Player of the Month, after his strong form for the u23s.

The Premier League have announced their seven nominees for the Premier League 2 September Player of the Month award, with Folarin Balogun among those in contention.

The shortlist is determined by the Premier League’s Football Development Panel from a longlist selected by PL2 club coaches. The coaches pick out the best display by an opponent in each of their league matches.

The development panel will also vote on the winner of the prize, so there’s no public element to the decision.

Balogun should be in with a good shot at winning the award, having scored twice in a win over Manchester United and twice in a win over Chelsea, also assisting a goal in that game despite only featuring for 39 minutes.

The striker also featured in a draw with Manchester City, though he didn’t score on that occasion. In all, that’s four goals and an assist in three games, one goal contribution every 44 minutes.

One of Balogun’s biggest competitors will be Caleb Chukwuemeka of Aston Villa, who scored five goals and assisted one.

Though that’s one more than Balogun, he was facing West Brom and Stoke City’s u23s, not Manchester United and Chelsea’s. So it should be a close thing between the two of them.

Balogun has also started October off in strong form, scoring a brace against Brighton.