Former Arsenal academy winger Chris Willock continues to impress with QPR, winning their Player and Goal of the Month awards for January.

QPR have announced their winner for their Player of the Month and Goal of the Month awards, with ex-Arsenal academy youngster Chris Willock winning both.

Willock scored once and assisted five goals in January, so it’s no real surprise to see him winning the vote as their top player, and his goal against Birmingham City was certainly impressive as well.

It’s the second time Willock has won QPR’s Player of the Month award this season, having also won the vote in November. That month, Willock also won the Player of the Month award for the whole Championship.

That was also undoubtedly an excellent month and a well-deserved award for Chris.

He scored three goals and assisted one in his four Championship appearances, one goal contribution in each game as QPR won three and drew one.

For followers of the Arsenal academy, it was initially surprising to see Joe Willock breaking into the first team whilst his brother Chris moved away to play for Benfica B.

Chris had been one of Arsenal’s top talents, whilst Joe was a bit of a late bloomer, and for a long time seemed a bit raw for Premier League football.

Chris played as a regular at every level from the u16s to the u20s for England, and it looked only a matter of time before he made the u21s and beyond.

Yet his move to Benfica stalled his progress. The winger never made the step up from Benfica B to the first-team, and his loan spells back to England with West Brom and Huddersfield were relatively uninspiring.

Eventually, Benfica decided to move on, selling Willock to Queens Park Rangers in 2020.

After a season of adaptation that was decent at best in 2020/21, Chris is finally finding his feet this campaign.

The 23-year-old has six goals and nine assists so far, helping QPR up to fourth in the Championship table.