If you'd suggested Nicklas Bendtner would be EA SPORTS Player of the Month after the first game of March, you would have been put firmly in your place.

But a week, let alone a month, is a long time in football. No sooner had the big Dane squandered a host of chances against Burnley, he was propelling Arsenal into the Quarter-Finals of the Champions League with a hat-trick against Porto.

Nicklas followed that up with a vital last-gasp winner at Hull City and he led the line impressively for the rest of March as Arsenal stayed on track in the title race.

In a close race for this particular prize, the 22-year-old received 33.1 per cent of the votes cast, edging out Cesc Fabregas to end the captain's run of five consecutive Player of the Month awards.

Sami Nasri finished third after scoring arguably Arsenal's two best goals of March - that solo effort against Porto and a long-range strike at Birmingham.
MARCH PLAYER OF THE MONTH RESULT Player  % of votes
Nicklas Bendtner                                                  33.1
Cesc Fabregas                                                    26.3
Samir Nasri                                                          22.7
Others                                                            17.9

Andrew Neely from Belfast in Northern Ireland has won the chance to present Nicklas with his award before the Manchester City game on Saturday, April 24. Andrew will also receive two tickets to the match.

"He has proved that he can mix it with the big boys," said Andrew. "He's still young and is still learning - he can only get better."

Gael Clichy is feeling better with every game after getting his second 'pre-season' out of the way.

The Frenchman was sidelined for almost three months with a back injury and took time to find his rhythm when he returned to first-team action in January. Clichy was criticised in some quarters but he is gradually rediscovering his best form and was one of Arsenal's stand-out players at Barcelona on Tuesday night.

Clichy is relieved he is over his blip but he's not surprised his form deserted him at the start of the year. As the left-back points out, his injury lay-off was longer than a close-season break.

"Even if you’ve been out for four months, people expect you to do well when you’re back on the pitch and don’t want any excuses," Clichy told the Official Matchday Programme.

"But that kind of absence is still longer than, for example, our summer break - and we know that after the summer holidays you need a month and a half to get fit and sharp. Pre-season friendlies and training are not for nothing!

"So the same applies here, I think – it’s never easy to come back and be thrown straight into big games, but I wasn’t worried because I knew I needed time.

"On the other hand, I was disappointed that I wasn’t able to play as well as I can – but I’m feeling better game after game and I hope that people who rightly said I wasn’t playing well earlier on can see that I’m improving now.

"My game is based on fitness and if I’m sharp I can do really well – I’m feeling fresh and recovering quite well between the games, so I’m sure I can perform even better. There aren’t many games to go now and I want to show that I can deliver for Arsenal."