Aaron Anselmino – Borussia Dortmund

Anselmino made his return from injury as a late substitute in Dortmund’s 4-2 win at Copenhagen, giving the defender his Champions League debut in the process. A week later he was back in the starting line-up, featuring during the first half as Borussia drew 1-1 away at Eintracht Frankfurt in the DFB Pokal, former Blues Michy Batshuayi and Carney Chukwuemeka both netting on opposing sides as the visitors won the penalty shootout.

Omari Kellyman – Cardiff City

A busy month saw Kellyman feature in five matches across three different competitions for League One leaders Cardiff. That started with a thrilling 4-3 victory over Leyton Orient. There were also two rare Welsh derbies for the Bluebirds, losing to Newport County in the EFL Trophy, but defeating Wrexham to book a spot in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals, where they will play us.

However, the highlight for Kellyman came in the league, when he cut inside onto his left foot and fired in his first goal of the season, equalising against Reading to spark a comeback win and send Cardiff back to the top of the table.

Teddy Sharman-Lowe – Bolton Wanderers

The young goalkeeper continued his record of playing every minute of Bolton Wanderers’ League One campaign this season in a strong month, as they won three of their four matches. His third clean sheet of 2025/26 came in an impressive 1-0 win over top-of-the-table Cardiff City, when the Trotters netted a dramatic injury-time winner for the second game in a row. It was Cardiff’s first away defeat of the season and takes Bolton within one point of the play-off places.

Leo Castledine – Huddersfield Town

Despite continuing to be a regular feature in the Huddersfield side and netting his third goal of 2025/26 – and second in the space of three games in League One – it was a difficult month for Castledine and the promotion hopefuls. His header from a corner had given Huddersfield an early lead over Bolton, but two added-time goals made the final score 2-1 to the Trotters. It also contributed to three consecutive defeats in October, with Castledine being forced off with an injury in the first half of their most recent, a 3-0 loss to Wycombe Wanderers.

Jimmy-Jay Morgan – Peterborough United

Morgan started all three of Peterborough’s League One fixtures this month, but he wasn’t able to add to his tally of four goals this season to help them climb off the foot of the table, despite a battling win away at Burton Albion with 10 men. Morgan thought he had given the Posh a 2-1 second-half lead in their last game, only for it to be ruled out for offside - and a late goal ultimately gave Blackpool all three points.

Ishe Samuels-Smith – Swansea City

Starting on the left side of a back three in the Carabao Cup fourth round, Samuels-Smith was part of the Swansea side which briefly threatened to cause a huge upset. They took an early lead against Manchester City at the Swansea.com Stadium, but the visitors equalised before the break and two second-half goals ended the Swans’ hopes of a shock win.

Caleb Wiley – Watford

A change of manager meant a change of role for Wiley at Watford. He featured as a wing-back in Paulo Pezzolano’s last two games in charge of the Championship side, a 2-2 draw at Portsmouth and comeback win over Oxford United at home. Wiley then switched to left-back as the Hornets started Javi Gracia’s second spell in the dugout with a 1-0 loss to Sheffield United.

Kendry Paez, Mike Penders, Mamadou Sarr – Strasbourg

Penders continues to be an ever-present for Strasbourg and was joined in the starting line-up by Paez as they continued their UEFA Conference League campaign by beating Slovan Bratislava and drawing with Jagiellonia. In Ligue 1, Paez came off the bench in three of their four matches, while Sarr returned from injury to captain the side in their last two games of the month, losing at Lyon before a 3-0 win over Auxerre left them fourth in the table, two points behind leaders Paris Saint-Germain.

Nicolas Jackson – Bayern Munich

Jackson made three league appearances as Bayern continue to lead the way in the Bundesliga, opening up a five-point gap at the top of the table, and was a late substitute in their DFB Pokal win over Cologne. He also found the net in his second consecutive Champions League game, getting Munich’s fourth in a 4-0 victory at home to Club Brugge.

Kiano Dyer – Volendam

The teenage midfielder made two appearances off the bench for the Dutch top-flight side in October. The first was in a 3-0 Eredivisie win over Heracles which keeps the newly-promoted victors clear of the relegation zone in 13th place, before contributing to a 2-1 triumph at Quick Boys in the first round of the KNVB Beker.

David Fofana – Fatih Karagumruk

Fofana featured up front in all three of Fatih Karagumruk’s league games this month, but was unable to add to the three goals he scored in September. Defeats to Gazientep – despite having a late penalty awarded for a foul on Fofana – and Fenerbahce, followed by a 2-2 draw with Kayserispor, leave them bottom of the Turkish Super Lig table.