Hayes, Symonds and Seike up for October awards as Albion Women go to Spurs

Three Brighton & Hove Albion^1,2,3,4 Women players are up for awards for October. Caitlin Hayes is nominated for WSL player of the month, captain Maisie Symonds for goal of the month, and Kiko Seike for the PFA’s player of the month.

Hayes played in every game in October. She set up Gabby George’s goal in the 5-1 win over Charlton at the Amex, then scored in the 3-2 defeat to leaders Manchester City. In that game she also led Albion for clearances and aerial duels won. She scored in the 5-0 Players Cup win over Wolves and headed the equaliser in last Sunday’s 2-1 win against Crystal Palace.

No player in the WSL has won more aerial duels than Hayes this season. She has won 25 of her 34 aerial duels, and both her league goals have come from headers.

Symonds’s goal came at the Amex on 24 October, with West Ham and Albion still level at 0-0. She picked up a loose clearance 25 yards out and hit it into the top corner. Albion won 3-0.

Seike scored three times in October: twice against Charlton and once against West Ham. She is up against Ellie Carpenter and Melvine Malard of Chelsea, Lauren Hemp and Bunny Shaw of Manchester City, and Danielle van de Donk of London City Lionesses. Fans can vote through a link on the club’s website.

The two WSL winners will be announced on 12 November.

Albion go to Tottenham Hotspur’s BetWright Stadium on Sunday, kick-off 2pm, looking for a fourth win in a row in all competitions. They have won only one of their seven WSL away games at Spurs, 1-0 in March 2025 through a Fran Kirby goal.

Seike and Jelena Cankovic both missed the Palace game, and head coach Arturo Ruiz is checking their fitness day by day. Nadia Krezyman should be in a matchday squad for the first time since she joined the club, after recovering from injury.

“We are in a good moment,” Ruiz said. He added: “Now we need to use our home form to build results away.”

Albion have scored a league-high four goals from corners this season. Only Spurs, with six, have more set-piece goals than Albion’s five.