West Ham goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski should be a complete shoo-in for Hammer of the Year for the 2018/19 season and should he win it, he'd be just the fifth stopper to take the award.
Robert Green was the last goalie to scoop the award back in 2003, before him it was Shaka Hislop (1999), Ludek Miklosko (1991) and Phil Parkes (1981) who are the only goalkeepers to take the honour.
Fabianksi was a £7m capture from Swansea City last summer following their relegation to the Championship and it has proved to be arguably the bargain of the season, especially as it came in the same transfer window as Liverpool plundered £60m on Brazilian keeper Allisson and Chelsea splurged a whopping £71.6m on Kepa Arrizabalga - you could have got ten Fabianski's for that.
The Pole has only kept six clean sheets this season, which isn't exactly great at all, but lord only knows how many points the keeper has saved the Hammers across the entire season as he saved the most shots on goal of any goalie in the division.
Pellegrini reveals why he dropped Diop for West Ham before barnstorming return against Spurs
Declan Rice could run Fabianski close for Hammer of the Year at the end of season awards which take place next Wednesday at the Intercontinental Hotel at the O2 but the goalkeeper is very much the hot favourite.
His manager believes Fabianski earns every award he gets this season and was full of praise for the 34-year-old in the Chilean's own understated way.
"Very good," Pellegrini said.
"I think that Lukasz Fabianski had not only a good season playing (some) good games, he has a regular season also, the same performance in every game.
Jack Wilshere comes in as Pellegrini makes one change - Predicted West Ham XI vs Southampton
"Every player can make a mistake but (him) not too many mistakes.
"I think the way we defend is also better for him, because we always tried to have our box as clear as we can so he has more time to react to a shot from distance. But not only about his performance during the games, his performance every day of the week.
"He deserves every award that he can receive.
"The price that we brought him here, of course it was a very good price.
"Would I prefer him not to be so busy next season? I certainly hope we are able to concede less goals. That is one of the reasons why we didn't improve (this season) because we conceded too many goals."
Southampton without two key men for West Ham clash at the London Stadium
Keep up to date with the latest news, features and exclusives from football.london via the free football.london app for iPhone and Android .
Available to download from the App Store and Google Play .
