Tuesday 5 January 2016 10:34, UK
Arsenal's Mesut Ozil has been named the PFA Fans' Player of the Month for December in the Premier League.
Ozil's performances during December have seen him pick up back-to-back PFA Fans' Player of the Month awards in the top flight.
The German playmaker collected another five assists and scored once as the Gunners ended 2015 top of the Premier League.
The 27-year-old, who has 16 assists in the Premier League so far this season, won 52.94% of the vote to beat off competition from Watford striker Odion Ighalo (24.78%) and Leicester's in-form forward Riyad Mahrez (22.28%).
This was was reduced from an initial 12-man list featuring Adrian (West Ham), Dele Alli (Tottenham), Junior Stanislas (Bournemouth), Marko Arnautovic (Stoke), N'Golo Kante (Leicester), Olivier Giroud (Arsenal), Romelu Lukaku (Everton), Troy Deeney (Watford) and Yannick Bolasie (Crystal Palace).
Every month, throughout the English football season, fans will have the opportunity to vote on skysports.com for who they think has been the best player in the Barclays Premier League, Sky Bet Championship, Sky Bet League One and Sky Bet League Two, after Sky Sports teamed up with the PFA to be the digital platform for the Awards.
Before the vote opens each month, an expert panel will produce a shortlist of contenders. Fans will then be able to vote for the player they think deserves the award.
The panel includes Sky Sports football pundits Paul Merson, Ian Holloway and Peter Beagrie.
That trio will be joined by Mike Riley, general manager of the Professional Game Match Officials, and Malcolm Clarke, chairman of the Football Supporters Federation, as well as the winning fan from each month.