N'Golo Kante Wins London Premier League Player Of The Year Award

Chelsea midfielder N'Golo Kante has been crowned Premier League Player of the Year at the 2017 London Football Awards.

While Chelsea manager wins the London manager of the year

Chelsea manager Antonio Conte wins the London manager of the year

The 25-year-old beat off competition from fellow nominees Alexis Sanchez, Dele Alli, Danny Rose and Blues team-mate Diego Costa to named the winner at the awards gala in Battersea on Thursday evening.

The latest honour caps a remarkable 18 months for the France international, who looks on course to win successive titles after Leicester City's 5,000-1 triumph last season and Chelsea currently sitting 10 points clear this term.

Eric Cantona, another Frenchman, is the last player to claim back-to-back Premier League crowns with different clubs - Leeds United's 1991/92 win followed by Manchester United's in 1992/93 - though goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer featured in both Chelsea and Leicester's squads (for 2015 and 2016) but failed to make a single league outing.

Kante arrived in England in the summer of 2015, joining Leicester as one of Claudio Ranieri's first signings, and quickly established himself as key to the Foxes shock top-flight triumph nine months later, recording more tackles and interceptions than any other player in the division.

A move to Chelsea soon followed, for a fee of around £32 million, and Kante picked up where he left off at the King Power Stadium in west London.

The 25-year-old has missed just one game this season and is one of the favourites to be named PFA Player of the Year as Chelsea close in on the Premier League title.