Erik ten Hag has received the Premier League Manager of the Month award for September.
He is the first Manchester United manager to win the award since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer back in January 2019 after the Red Devils recorded two victories from two matches. United began the month with a 1-0 win over Leicester City thanks to Jadon Sancho's first-half strike.
It wasn't the Red Devils' finest display, but they got the job done in the end as United continued their up-turn in form. But United produced arguably their best performance of the season in their next game against top-of-the-table Arsenal.
The Red Devils ended the Gunners' unbeaten start with a ruthless showing at Old Trafford as Antony scored the opener, before Player of the Month Marcus Rashford added a second-half brace to earn a 3-1 victory. It was a result that moved United up to fifth in the table, just behind Brighton inside the Champions League places.
Ten Hag has been rewarded for United's recent form in just his second month in the Premier League. This is, coincidentally, the same time frame in which it took Solskjaer to achieve his first and only Manager of the Month prize after winning five of his six matches in January 2019.
Solskjaer went on to guide United to second place during the 2020/21 campaign but was sacked in November of last year after a poor run of results that ended with a demoralising 4-1 defeat against Watford. Ralf Rangnick replaced the Norwegian at the helm on an Interim basis until the end of the season, but this proved to be a huge failure as United finished sixth with their lowest ever Premier League points tally.
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Up then stepped Ten Hag to take the reigns on a permanent basis and see if he could deliver some success back to the club. After a disastrous start, losing against Brighton and Brentford, the Dutchman has recovered well having recorded four straight league wins, while the Red Devils have won one of their opening two Europa League games.
When reflecting on his maiden Manager of the Month award, Ten Hag said: "What we achieved we did together, it says we are in the right direction. There is a lot of space for improvement, we have to. It says we are in the right direction but have to work harder."
United head across the city for the Manchester derby on Sunday afternoon as they face their first Premier League game for almost a month. The Red Devils were scheduled to travel to Crystal Palace on September 10 but the game was postponed following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, while their clash with Leeds United was also called off due to policing issues.
