Nick Pope has earned the Premier League save of the month award after his stellar stop against Brighton. One day after his England call-up, the Newcastle United goalkeeper won the inaugural competition for his impressive showing on the South Coast.
With the scoreline level, Pope embodied the spirit of Gordon Banks to deny Adam Lallana’s header midway through the second half. The Magpies relied on their goalie at the Amex Stadium, with Pope making five key saves.
Rival shot-stoppers who missed out on the award were Ilian Meslier of Leeds United, José Sá of Wolverhampton Wanderers, Tottenham Hotspur's Hugo Lloris, Emiliano Martínez of Aston Villa, Brentford's David Raya, Danny Ward of Leicester City and Nottingham Forest's Dean Henderson.
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Pope had already won FUN88’s player of the month award for his impressive start to life on Tyneside. Speaking to NUFC TV, the keeper said: "It's a nice little extra - something you don't quite expect. It's nice to be the first winner of the award.
"As a goalkeeper, if you make some saves and you get beat, you don't have a great feeling that you take from the game afterwards. So to contribute to putting a point on the board makes sure it means something."
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