Norwich City winger Borja Sainz has been crowned Championship player of the month for a second consecutive time.

Sainz becomes just the third player to do so, following in the footsteps of record-breaking former Fulham forward Aleksander Mitrovic and ex-Canary James Vaughan to scoop the October award.

He scored four goals and claimed two assists in five appearances during the month, extending his impressive start to a campaign in which he's now found the net 12 times. Those included two long-range efforts against an impressive Middlesbrough side, as well as a perfectly-weighted lob to seal victory over Hull and a clever finish away at Preston.

He's beaten off competition from Stoke striker Tom Cannon, who became the first Potters player in 24 years to score four times in a game against Portsmouth, Cardiff's Ruben Colwill and Ao Tanaka of Daniel Farke's Leeds United.

The judging panel that chose him as their winner comprised Sky Sports pundit and former West Brom man Don Goodman, EFL chief executive Trevor Birch and Sky Bet EFL trader Ivor Davies.

Sainz is currently top of the second tier goalscoring charts, with second-placed Josh Maja trailing him by three strikes and fifth-placed Joel Piroe failing to score even half the league goals the Spaniard has registered.

He's already off the mark for November after a typically stunning finish against Cardiff on Saturday, and earned praise from head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup at yesterday's pre-Bristol City press conference.

"Obviously fantastic," said the 35-year-old of his charge's October. "He's trying to take steps to become more of a leader on the pitch, and especially a guy that we can rely on game to game.

"It's not too much up and down with him but it's consistent in performance and how he can impact the games. I think that's maybe where he has taken the biggest step so far this season.

"He's consistent and he can consistently go for 90 minutes, which is really, really impressive."

Sainz said of the accolade: “I’m very happy to win this award, but I must say thank you to the coaching staff and my teammates. They have helped me a lot, providing me with the belief and support.
 
“I want to continue to improve and learn. We want to make a special season here in Norwich City and I will continue giving everything on the pitch to help make that happen.”
 
Goodman added: “Borja Sainz is showing no signs of slowing down as he picks up the Championship Player of the Month award for the second month running. Norwich have had a mixed start to the season, but everything good seems to be coming through Sainz. He looks full of confidence and three of his four goals in October were absolute crackers.”